Records of the Eighth Kingdom
by Tavar
Summary: A sort of Codex/Dramatis Personae for a future AU Fanfic starting with the OC House, will be followed with character bios and world building, how they affect the rest of Westeros, etc will be up for revision in the future. 10/03/2018 EDIT: some mild revision and additions
1. Chapter 1

**deAN: I do not own Game of Thrones or ASOIAF, if I did there would have been less dead people or at very least karma would not have taken its sweet time in doing its job**

 **For the record this is Heavy AU, I'm pretty sure messing with history at this point**

 **This is inspired by a fanfic author whose name I do not remember, what I do remember was the author present a sort of challenge/concept of an eighth kingdom and I just rolled with it.**

House Aurion of Avalon

House Sigil: Silver Dragon's head on a black shield on blue

Motto: From ashes, We Rise

Current Head of House: Lady Elaena Aurion

Culture: Valyrian, First Men, Andal

Unofficial Motto: Forgive but never forget

Warcries:

\- Fire and Fury

\- We all die Someday

Location of Capital: (The Rills, Blazewater Bay situated near the river to Laenor's square)

Territory: Avalon (The Neck, Cape Kraken, Rills, Stony Shore, Barrowlands, Sea Dragon Point.)

Seat of Power: New Valyria, Fortress city (Original Seat was a restored Moat Cailin)

Notable Settlements: New Valyria, Barrowton, Silverhall, ( East of Barrowton, north of Moat Cailin) Flint's Finger, Castle Aegis, Dragon's Harbour (both located at Sea Dragon Point), Ironhold (located between Stony shore and the Rills), Greywater Watch, Moat Cailin, Laenor's Square, Duskhold (Stony Shore).

Religions: Mixed: Valyrian Pantheon, Old gods, Faith of the Seven

Notable Vassals: House Reed, House Dustin, House Ryswell, House Tallhart, House Flint of Flint's finger, House Belaerys, and House Dayne of Stony Shore.

Modern Military Strength(Personal, Post-Rebellion, before War of the Five Kings): Approximately 60,000 soldiers when fully mustered with 20,000 standing troops (not counting Levies or militias)

Silver Legion

Approximately 35,000 Foot infantry, 12,000 Active, 23,000 in reserves

Approximately 15,000 Marksmen, 5000 Active, 10,000 in reserves (Archers, Crossbowmen)

Approximately 10,000 Cavalry 3000 Active,(approximately 500 are knights) 7000 in reserves

Other Assets

3 dragons (hibernating/sleeping)2 hibernating/ asleep, 1 recently hatched (post-Robert's Rebellion, a year before the War of the Five Kings)

Military Naval strength: 152 ships (2 Flagships, 25 brigs, 50 Galleys, 50 captured longships and 25 ships devoted to troop transport)

Economic Naval strength: 35 trading ships that make trade runs through the Northern canal between New Valyria, Moat Cailin, White Harbour, Braavos, Volantis and Lys

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Combined Vassal Military strength: Approximately 55,000 soldiers (including garrisons and discounting irregulars)

Approximately 15,000 men-at-arms, All Active

Approximately 40,000 smallfolk levies, inactive

1 Dragon (hibernating) under the command of House Belaerys

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Dragons

Stormcrown: Amongst the oldest dragons alive, A silver scaled behemoth that has formed bonds with many of the Lords and ladies of House Aurion, Stormcrown was traditionally ridden by the head of the house, however in some cases Stormcrown has chosen a different member of the House. During the Conquest, Stormcrown fought against Balerion the Black Dread and almost killed Balerion. At some point after the conquest and before the Dance of Dragons Stormcrown has entered a state of hibernation and rests in New Valyria however as the war of the Five kings has begun, Stormcrown seems to be slowly rousing from his hibernation…

Bluefyre: Almost as old as Stormcrown, a blue scaled dragon that has stayed by House Aurion since its founding, infamous in the eight kingdoms for facing and nearly killing Vhagar and Meraxes during the conquest, Like Stormcrown, Bluefyre went into a state of Hibernation, but she too rouses from her hibernation...

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Magic

Having an intimate history with magic House Aurion is one of the greatest if not the greatest authority on the study of Magic, When the Rhoynar fled from the onslaught of the Valyrians, a number of water mages who could not escape placed themselves at the mercy of Maekar Aurion. In return for swearing allegiance and gaining protection, the water mages shared their knowledge of magic with House Aurion. Barring the Lands of Always Winter, the lands that now comprise Avalon were settled due to the stronger presence of Magic compared to the rest of Westeros. One of the greatest secrets of House Aurion is their ability to still utilize magic, However like the fact that their dragons are still alive, they have kept it secret in order to avoid being targeted, being dragged into pointless conflict, and to maintain hidden weapons for future war.

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Silver Legion and Auxillaries

Inspired by both their near defeat and the effectiveness of the Ghiscari Lockstep Legions, House Aurion adapted their tactics and fighting style with their own troops, The resulting force was one of early forms of a professional army. Originally mimicking the Ghiscari, the legion fought in a similar style of combat at first, however the commanders and the soldiers themselves noticed the ineffectiveness of spears in close quarter combat. At the time the soldiers scavenged additional weaponry from the battlefield or purchased them with their own pay. Eventually, House Aurion started equipping their soldiers with Hammers and arming swords. When landfall was made in Westeros the legions encountered the heavily armored knights for the first time and as a result had to adapt, one such thing was how they recruited, at first they recruited only from the larger number of Valyrians commoners who followed them but by the time of Andals crusades the restriction was lifted in order to bolster numbers.

when they were first trained and formed your average legionary was armed with an 8ft long spear, a shield, and a sidearm weapon in form of a hammer or arming sword. The legionary originally wore hardened leather armor and open-faced metal helms (Think barbuta without faceplate or bascinet) commanding officers wore black plumes on their helms with the general wearing blue plumes.

After settling down in Westeros and establishing peace with House Stark, The legions went through a period of training and replacement of equipment and a reevaluation of their combat effectiveness. Due to the prevalence of knights and lacking numbers at the time, the legionaries adopted heavier armor in form of a chainmail, coat of plates or plate mail. Hammers became the standard sidearm of the legionaries in order to combat the heavily armored knights of the southern kingdoms and legionaries were trained to use pikes as well standard armament.

Post-Rebellion, Legionaries have a standard armaments of a shield and the smaller pollaxes with an arming sword used as a sidearm. A number of legion units have stared utilizing pikes as an anti-cavalry measure, these legionaries carry smaller shields (think bucklers shields in terms of size) and arming swords for close quarters combat.

As a result of facing the knights on numerous occasions the Legion started adopting more unconventional tactics that were utilized by House Reed, as well as started recruiting and training more Auxiliaries. Originally these soldiers were drafted from non-valyrian peoples but like the legionaries, the restriction was removed after repelling the Andals. The Auxiliaries are comprised of Archers to support the legionaries as well as Cavalry to match knights of the south.

By the time of the conquest, the Legion evolved into a combined-arms army with legionaries working in concert with the Auxilliaries to achieve victory with both conventional and unconventional tactics. However, the Legion is not the only force that defends Avalon. Should the need arise Avalon can call upon smallfolk levies and militia forces to bolster the Legion, or merely rally them to defend Avalon while the legion is elsewhere.

Order of Scholars

Men and Women who endeavor to gather, preserve and spread knowledge in Avalon. Its main headquarters is situated inside of New Valyria. The Order possesses one of the largest collection of books, second only to the Citadel in Oldtown. However the Order possesses a better understanding of Magic in comparison to the Order of Maesters. As the Scholars aspire to spread knowledge throughout the North they have a number of outposts have been built throughout both Avalon and the North. Their headquarters is based in New Valyria itself.

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 **History (WIP)**

Before Departure

A Valyrian Noble House which made its exodus from the Valyrian Freehold years before the Doom, thought lost by the Dragon lords. The Sons and daughters of House Aurion were some the Freehold's strongest magic wielders and in some cases most feared Riders. Yet it is not their prowess nor their dragons that made others fear them it was their army. Unlike the rest of the dragon lords they did not always utilize their dragons, to them, dragons were more partners than servants. even the method used to hatch them was different.

When the freehold encountered the Ghiscari empire, House Aurion saw merit in adapting the infantry based strategies and fighting style of the lockstep legions as part their own forces. Doing away with conscripted levies they chose to create a professional army trained and drilled to fight for their lords forming what would be known as the Silver Legions. Due to numerous disagreements with their fellow dragonlords House Aurion being led by Laenor Aurion left Valyria.

The Landfall

Wandering for a time Laenor chose to settle in Westeros. Their first encounter with the Westerosi was hostile. When they landed in Westeros, Laenor landed near what is now known as the town of Saltpans where they fell under attack by the Valemen. The legions easily dealt with the Valemen and after some deliberation chose to push northwards.

Laenor found the ruined castle of Moat Cailin and chose settled there for a time rebuilding it, and sending out scouts to survey the surrounding territory. Laenor passed away peacefully in his sleep and was succeeded by his daughter Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra was approached by House Reed and Flint and after a week of negotiations, the two houses pledged allegiance to House Aurion.

The peace ended when they came under attack by the Northern houses of Ryswell and Dustin, These houses were amongst the few who had yet to submit to the Starks. While doing no significant damage, the northmen harassed the Legions repeatedly and went so far as to burn down the small town that was being established nearby incensed, House Aurion and their vassals mobilized for war. The war was short, bloody and decisive as a result, House Aurion claimed the Barrowlands, Rills and Stony Shore as their own territory with the defeated houses swearing allegiance. After defeating the Northern houses and gaining their allegiance HouseAurion was met by a messenger from House Stark who sought parley with them.

The spies and scouts House Stark witness the Silver Legion devastate the Northern host. As such King Jon Stark sought to parley with House Aurion to ensure that there were no hostilities between their houses. This Parley would form a non-aggression pact which eventually developed into. Between the two houses, the North thrived for a time, building roads and towns and infrastructure.

During the Andals Crusades, the men of Avalon and the North built a reputation of being one of the strongest fighting forces in Westeros. To those who worshipped the faith of the Seven, both House Stark and Aurion were a bastion of unbelievers.

When the Doom of Valyria occurred House Aurions old political allies House Belaerys survived, having sailed to the Summer Isles they encountered members of House Aurion and followed them to Avalon. By the time they had arrived they had lost almost everything and as such swore allegiance to House Aurion.

When Aegon Targaryen had defeated the five of the eight kingdoms he turned his eyes northwards. He had heard stories of Avalon and the North, how they repelled every Andals crusade unleashed upon them, no matter how many they numbered. When they marched forth they brought their entire host of 70,000 to try and cow the two kingdoms thinking that should battle occur the north would stand no chance. When the Targaryens and their host approached the Neck they found the combined host of the Silver Legions and Northern Army, numbering at this time 85,000, as well as two Dragons waiting for them. What surprised Aegon was the true identity of the ruling house of Avalon, the lost House Aurion of the long-destroyed Valyrian freehold.

Unknown to him House Stark and House Aurion were deliberating on what to do, should they fight or should they bend the knee to avoid bloodshed? During these deliberations for reasons still unknown the dragons on both sides attacked one another while the armies were encamped. Both sides were enthralled by the deadly dance occurring in the sky, only for it to end with the defeat of the Targaryen Dragons.

To Aegon's surprise the two kingdoms offered Parley, they would acknowledge Aegon's rule in return for Autonomy. With his dragons crippled and one the most feared fighting forces in Westeros willing to withdraw and avoid needless bloodshed, Aegon agreed.

For a time relations between the north and their liege lord were amicable and to the rest of the eight kingdoms, and due to their isolationism The North and Avalon faded into a degree of obscurity, as far as the south was concerned it was a barbaric land and the Northerners were not particularly inclined to try and convince them otherwise. Until Robert's Rebellion, it was in this conflict that the south would remember why they feared the north. With the rescue of Elaena Aurion from the Red Keep and the deaths of Lord Daemon Aurion and Lord Rickard Stark, House Aurion and Avalon proper have marshaled their legions for war...

 **AN: There will be Revisions and additions in the future**

 **I picked the north for the area that the eighth kingdom presides because it is large and mostly undeveloped as far as I am aware, and if you look at a map, it's bloody huge, large enough for a supposed eighth kingdom to form.**

 **When I refer to the Andals Crusades I am referring to Military actions by the other Kingdoms that was spurred by Faith to put down the Starks and Aurions because they do not worship the Seven. Starks because they still worship the Old Gods, Aurions because they don't worship gods.**

 **There are probably a lot of inaccuracies when it comes to History (example: Moat Cailin, I have no clue when it was abandoned only that it was abandoned and House Reed, pretty sure they were longtime vassals of House Stark) Most of this will be revised in the future.**

 **Reviews with constructive criticism and advice are** **always appreciated, never thought of doing this until recently.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Wow, thanks for reading guys!**

 **I would like to reiterate that this is more or less a companion piece to the eventual long fanfic I plan to write, I do not have the spare time to write a long fic or write for consistent amounts of time, so instead I will dedicate what time I do have to world-building, ficlets, and one-shots.**

Notable members of House Aurion

Name: Jacaerys Aurion

Gender: Male

Status: Deceased

Physical Appearance: Archetypical Valyrian features, White-Gold Hair and lilac eyes. (look up Gerard Butler as Attila the Hun)

Real life Inspiration: Gaius Marius, consul of Rome and responsible for Marian Reforms on the Roman army, turning it into the famous Roman legions we know today.

Most Notable feat: founder/creator of the Valyrian Legion

Fatal Flaw: obsession, was driven by the near defeat that killed many Valyrian soldiers.

Jacaerys Aurion was a second son of House Aurion, unexpectedly elevated to the heir apparent after the untimely death of his brother Baelon. For a time he served as one of the Military commanders during the war with the Ghiscari Empire.

During one such battle , he achieved victory against the Ghiscari empire, albeit a very close one. The battle ended with mass casualties on both sides and would have ended in his defeat if it wasn't for the dragons. That battle would haunt him, from Jacaerys' point of view, if there were no dragons there would have been no freehold.

As such Jacaerys endeavored to create an army that could win without the aid dragons, his efforts resulted in the Valyrian Legions, with his own house's personally raised troops being referred to as the Silver Legions, both were fighting forces that could and did match the Ghiscari Lockstep Legions.

-Line Break-

Name: Rhaenyra Aurion

Gender: Female

No real-life inspiration:

Status: Deceased

Appearance: Archtypical Valyrian features (google "Valyrian Female" something along the lines of the 6th of 10th images)

Notable feat: Established the region of Avalon, layed down foundations of New Valyria.

Fatal Flaw: Ruthless, while it has been never mentioned, Rhaenyra shows no mercy to those she deems an enemy, she can be utterly vindictive and even borderline sadistic.

Blood Purity

"Our house will never fall by our own hands, it will only fall by the hands of an enemy we cannot defeat" - attributed to an unknown third born son of House Aurion

House Aurion was filled with learned individuals, when they were not fighting in name of the Freehold, they were gathering knowledge and sharing it amongst their friends and allies. To them to more one knew about their enemies the easier it was to defeat them. At first, they too subscribed to the belief of blood purity however it was practiced with their eldest children, while their heirs and spares were free to marry whomever they wished and they maintained this practice for a long time until they noted strange things about their children. It was subtle at first, but it seemed that some of their children grew up not to be of sound mind. While not all children of those unions showed any sign of madness, they noted that it was children from those unions that tended to be afflicted, whereas the children of the heirs and spares who married outside of the family showed no signs.

They brought their findings to their fellow dragonlords, only to be rebuffed. While the claims were dismissed by the rest of the Nobles, House Aurion decided to drop the practice of blood purity, out of fear the potential madness would result in the destruction of their House by their own hands, it is for this reason that the members of House Aurion nowadays are of sound mind.

House Aurion's Reputation and Relations with the other Dragonlords

"Brand us fools, brand us with whatever title you see fit. But never question our loyalty nor our willingness to fight" - Heir-Apparent Jacaerys Aurion upon being accused of treachery and cowardice for their reticence in rushing into another Ghiscari War

Despite the occasional bouts ridicule they tend to be faced with, House Aurion has always been highly regarded by the other houses, their lacking ambition and avoidance of political power plays has resulted in the other houses ignoring them in the political arena. Another reason for the respect they hold is the house's history of fighting for Valyria, the members of House Aurion bear helms that are painted blood red from eyes down, in the shape of tears falling from their eyes. This is to symbolize the members of House Aurion that have fallen in defense of Valyria and blood they have shed for the sake of the Freehold. Some accuse them of cowardice for their lack of aggressiveness however, the older and more influential dragonlords recognized this supposed cowardice for cautiousness. That House Aurion was more concerned that a conflict could result in the weakening of the freehold as whole rather than any fear of fighting.

By the end of the Ghiscari war, A number of sons and daughters of House Aurion had met their end, despite the loss of so many members the respect for House Aurion had grown, that not even their worst detractors would accuse them of disloyalty or after they departed from the freehold they still maintained this mentality when they settle in the North. Arguably defending their new home from the Andals until the Conquest ended that threat.

Aurion and Faith of the Seven

"He was a bloody idiot, the realm would have been better off if he had done his duty instead praying in the sept" - Lady Daenys Aurion on King Baelor "the Blessed" Targaryen after his death

When Laenor Aurion landed in Westeros, the most predominant faith in the region they landed in was the Faith of the Seven, what partially spurred Laenor to move his house North was the fact that those who worshipped the faith had a strong dislike for magic, something that his house was somewhat known for amongst his own Valyrian. As such when he settled in Moat Cailin he declined any requests for the construction of septs or conversion to the faith, which fueled dislike from the Faith. When Laenor passed on and Rhaenyra took control the faith once more petitioned for the building of Septs and conversion of House Aurion to the Faith, they were declined on both accounts.

Years go by, Rhaenyra has annexed territory and gained the allegiance of various lords. House Aurion builds a somewhat friendly relationship with other Northern Lords including House Stark, however, the faith's discontent towards them has festered and grown. it gets to the point the Faith is looking to convert House Aurion whether they like it or not and spur the other kingdoms to bring the "heathens" to heel. Thus began the Andals crusades, which would continue up until fifteen years before the conquest.

When the entirety of the North pledged allegiance to the Iron throne, religious tensions diminished significantly. However, tensions rose again during the Reign of Baelor the Blessed. Baelor attempted to convert the North to the faith, even going so far as to kidnapping and imprisoning Valarr Aurion during his visit to King's Landing. Both House Aurion and their allies such as the Starks began calling their banners to march down south, sending missives to demand the return of Lady Aurion's Son. Thankfully the situation was resolved, as Baelor had passed away from his fasting, Prince Viserys released Valarr and set up a betrothal between Valarr and his niece Rhaena. Tensions dissolved and there were no more attempts by the faith to forcibly convert the North.

 **AN: Yes, House Aurion discovered what was eventually coined as Targaryen Madness, they decided that they did not want any of that.**

 **I hope to create an internally consistent world, and to sort of integrate House Aurion into Westerosi history.**

 **I chose Rhaena because when I looked into the members of House Targaryen at the time of Baelor she was mentioned, there was also very little recorded about her compared to Elaena and Daena Targaryen, so yes the modern day Aurion's can claim blood relations with House Targaryen**

 **Please review, any constructive criticism and even suggestions are appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 3

An Excerpt on the Development of Avalon

 **AN: Fleshed out/ added on to chapter 2. Probably never mentioned this before but the conflict between the Northern Houses and House Aurion lasted a couple of months. In this AU the North and Avalon more or less stay out of affairs of the South in the years between conquest and rebellion, they occasionally dragged into situations like the Dance of Dragons, but stay out of the south in most cases.**

Mountain tribes and the King in the North

 _" Assemble the Legion, rouse our dragons, show them no mercy!" - Lady Rhaenyra Aurion, upon receiving the bodies of her messengers to Northern Houses_

" _They stood no chance, The bannermen of those foreigners slaughtered them, they had these giant creatures that could breathe fire and it breathed fire on their enemies, those who were not burnt died at the hands of the bannermen that charged in after the creature attacked, only those who surrendered at the beginning of the battle were spared the fate of the slain..." – attributed to Liam Cassel, a scout reporting to King Jon Stark on the defeat of last independent Northern Lords_

Before encountering House Stark and after defeating the northern lords in battle, Lady Rhaenyra was approached by an envoy from the local mountain tribes in the north. Members of the Tribes witnessed the battles between House Aurion and the Northern lords. As such the tribes convened, they knew that if they fought with these strange foreigners, they would have the advantage in knowing the local terrain but sooner or later the combined might of the dragons and soldiers would crush them under heel. after a few days of deliberation decided to send an envoy to House Aurion in hopes avoiding potential conflict.

Intrigued by the fact that there was a group that was not immediately hostile towards them, Rhaenyra sent the envoy back with a message to tribes, stating that they would meet on neutral ground. Three weeks later the tribal leaders traveled to Barrowton to meet with House Aurion. Not much was recorded in terms of what happened during in the discussions, however, the negotiations ended with House Aurion forming an alliance with the Mountain tribes, by the time of Robert's Rebellion these tribes would have more or less integrated with Avalon.

Unknown to them House Stark had witnessed both the defeat of the Northern lords and the meeting between the foreigners and the Mountain Clans, the King in the North decided to make his presence known and offered parley, House Stark managed to secure a non-aggression pact from House Aurion, both houses departed after drawing lines the map marking each other's territory.

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Development of the Land

With no enemies at the gates, Rhaenyra devoted time and resources to surveying the lands they have claimed. In the Mountains between Stony Shore and the Rills were large and untapped deposits of Iron, tin, copper and Silver. As such House Aurion laid down foundations of a small town devoted to mining out the metals. The waters surrounding Sea Dragons point were filled with schools of fish and the nearby wolfswood provided a consistent source lumber for fishing boats, as such another small settlement as wells as a few fishing villages were established.

Rhaenyra's scouts reported the presence of wild cattle, she sent men to gather the herd in order to obtain another source of food as well as fur. Said Cattle would see widespread dispersion throughout Avalon

The Newcomers to the north did not try to supplant the culture, instead they learned and adopted some of the customs found in the North, as such the small folk did not see any reason to leave the land, thanks to the introduction of better tools and farming methods (think crop rotation) the small folk had access to a larger reserve of food then they used to. This resulted in the more people surviving the Winter and fewer people dying from starvation.

When winter struck, the lands under House Stark were facing food shortages. knowing that had few options and that the Lands of House Aurion were not lacking in terms of food, they reached out to their neighbors. House Aurion responded by supplying food to the rest of the North. By the time winter ended House Stark and House Aurion had finalized several trading agreements, and as a gesture of goodwill, provided better tools to the other Northern lords to help them farm the land, as well as teaching them better farming methods that would help increase yield.

With the introduction of trade, the creation of new settlements and the founding of what was to become their capital, there needed to be an easier way to travel around Avalon and the North, thanks to the growing prosperity it did not take much to convince the King in the North to contribute to the building of roads in Avalon and the North.

* * *

New Valyria

" _A new home for our people, a new city in place of the one we left behind " - Lady Rhaenyra Aurion upon finding the site where New Valyria is built_

When Moat Cailin first found, it was never intended to be the location of a city, it would take time to drain the swamps to make a livable location, time they were lacking at that point. After the treaty with House Stark, Rhaenyra decided that a new city should be built, in a location with no previous settlement. With her subjects she found an area in the Rills, it was by Blazewater bay which gave them access to fish, with some time fields could be cultivated in the surrounding area, So House Aurion settled the surrounding area building a Keep and a small town at first. The settlement was named New Valyria by Rhaenyra as it was the first settlement made by the Valyrians that settled in the North.

About a century later by the time of the Aegon's Conquest, New Valyria was home to some 200,000 inhabitants, with consistent sources of food and warmth during the harsh winters, the population in the North and Avalon went through a significant growth and would continue to grow after the conquest

* * *

A (very) brief excerpt on Succession

In most cases, the heir to House Aurion is always the first born child, unlike the more patriarchal houses that rule lands of Westeros, As far as House Aurion was concerned the eldest child, be they man or woman was to be next head of the house, there was no regard for gender. There have been cases where the heir apparent did not wish to take up the title, as such it would fall to the next child in the line ofsucession. However, in some cases, there have been second or Third-born children who were considered just as worthy of the title. If that child had enough support from members of the house there was a very real possibility of said child ascending to take the Lordship in place of the eldest.

* * *

 **AN: I'm not an expert in development, but I'm assuming that they won't run out or resources or space anytime soon. I would to remind people of how huge the North is, in canon the north could possibly raise an army of 45,000, but it would take a long amount of time due to how large the land is and the low population. In canon, House Lannister mined Casterly rock and the surrounding area for thousands of years. So to me, it's reasonable to believe that they won't run out three centuries later. I also like to think that a century is a realistic timeframe for a city to be built, not a large one but a city nonetheless, and add another 250+ odd years to build would result in a significantly large city by the time we hit the time of GoT/ASoIAF.**

 **I'm debating as to what the people of Avalon are called, personally Avalonmen sounds strange to me it also sounds like a distinction that would only be heard in the north, and personally I think they would more likely be referred to as northerners or northmen, Add to the fact that House Aurion had more or less integrated with them by the time of the Rebellion it makes more sense to me.**


	4. Chapter 4

Interim Years

 **AN: I intended to publish this yesterday but the power went out, and when it came back on there were still internet issues**

 **House Aurion has a strong tolerance of religion, but they can't stand fanatics, or violent situations that erupted because of differing religious views which what they had to deal with for a time when it came to the Faith of Seven. (this little fact of religious tolerance is a nod to the freehold's practices on relgion, it was something I found out about while doing some cursory research)**

 **Now before someone asks, no they don't practice slavery. This may be expanded upon in the future when i can write more than 50 words on it.**

 **In this AU, Rhaena, daughter of Aegon III was never a** **septa, but was nonetheless a follower of the faith and because of her, the Faith of the Seven ends up with small presence in Avalon.**

 **Enjoy!**

Formation of the Avalon Fleet

" _Continue the onslaught! Kill. Them. All." – Haegon Aurion, Commander of the Avalon Fleet and future Lord of Castle Aegis upon surrounding the Ironborn Raiders in Blazewater Bay_

Some years after they had settled into their Territory, House Aurion focused primarily on building infrastructure and settlements. A portion of the Legion was temporarily disbanded in order to increase the labour force. The disbandment was one of the few mistakes ever made as shortly after this New Valyria was attacked by the Ironborn with the Majority of the Legion present at Moat Cailin New Valyria had only a small garrison and inexperienced militia to fight the battle-hardened raiders. While they were repelled by the Militias and were unable to take anything with them, hundreds died in defense of the fledgling city and many more non-combatants were killed in the ensuing raid.

After the Assault, House Aurion rebuilt their Navy and expanded it. Two years later, when the Ironborn saw fit to try and raid Avalon again, House Aurion had at this point built 50 warships to combat any attempted raid. When the Ironborn made for New Valyria they were met with no resistance at first, when they reached Blazewater bay they found a larger city then what was previously described. Just before they could land they saw the Silver Legion form up to repel them, as well as the newly formed Avalon fleet surround the attacking longships. Disregarding the fact that they were surrounded the Ironborn attacked the land first, unfortunately for them, the legionaries were not the same militia that were defending New Valyria in the past, no they were fighting veterans from the previous conflict with the Northern Lords. Stories of the Slaughter in New Valyria had spread throughout Avalon, this left the Legion screaming for vengeance. Surrounded on all sides the Ironborn were massacred, The fleet was able to capture 20 longships, this would furter augment the new fleet. With no news on the fate raiders, The Ironborn halted their attempts at raiding Avalon for a time, There would be no major ironborn incursions barring the occasional Ironborn captain being bold enough to try Avalon.

Actions After Conquest

 _"One who rules over others should not seek war but should prepare for it nonetheless, and considering the reputations of our southron neighbors we will not stop" - a brief excerpt of William Aurion, Lord of Moat Cailin. Explaining why Avalon is a heavily militarized kingdom to Jon Arryn, Mace Tyrell, and Stannis Baratheon._

While House Targaryen is technically their sworn liege, there was nothing but an illusion of control, If King Aegon were to try and order House Aurion to do something they didn't want to do, they would simply ignore it. King Aegon was never able to convince the Lord Aurion to provide troops during the First Dornish War for what they considered a "pointless conflict". There refusal to comply so easily was admittedly due to pride that dated to the time of the Freehold, House Aurion was also of the ten original noble houses that founded the city before they had dragons, as such they looked down on the supposed "last descendants" whose ancestors had been elevated to Dragonlords much later.

It eventually came to a head after Aegon's death, when Maegor the Cruel attempted to force them into compliance, only to be repelled violently at Moat Cailin. Balerion was almost felled in the same manner as Meraxes when a volley of ballistae bolts was fired from the Moat, almost bringing down Balerion. It dissuaded Maegor from another attempt and the short-lived campaign ended

Being their neighbors, the North under House Stark had not too dissimilar relations with the south, after all both kingdoms were considered backward, primitive and even barbaric by everyone else barring the ruling family who was more wary of House Aurion, as such they kept to themselves.

They would not really interact with the other Six Kingdoms until the Dance of Dragons. At the onset of the war, both House Aurion and House Stark took no sides in the ensuing conflict. They did not involve themselves until a swath of refugees started entering the North. These refugees told stories of dragons setting the land aflame, of how the land bled while the House Targaryen was busy fighting each other.

The North assembled its army and marched to King's Landing. House Aurion roused Stormcrown and Bluefyre. With the combined might of the army and the two ancient dragons they crushed any resistance. Unfortunately for the Iron Throne, with the deaths of both Rhaenyra and Aegon II Targaryen both the Blacks and Greens were leaderless, with only Aegon III was the only person left with any claim to the throne.

Unsatisfied by the whole situation, the Northerners forced Aegon III to name Cregan Stark Hand of the King. Over the course of a week, Cregan who was supported by House Aurion arrested a number of Lords and Knights, they were tried and in some cases executed. After a week the Northerners withdrew back home and the Southern kingdoms would remember the event as the Hour of the North.

Another confrontation between the North and the south nearly occurred when King Baelor imprisoned Valarr Aurion. Thankfully this was narrowly averted When he was released, King Viserys had not forgotten the stories of what had happened after the Dance of Dragons, as such he proposed a betrothal between his niece and the heir apparent of House Aurion.

Integration of the Faith

"If you cannot respect the religions of others, if you think that I would let you put others to the sword simply because they do not worship the same gods as you, then you will find no ally nor convert here" - Lady Rhaenyra Aurion addressing a Septon trying to convince her to convert to the Faith before promptly killing him after being threatening the newly formed Avalon

"insane fanatics...the lot of them" - The common opinion of Northerners on the Faith Militant and Poor fellows

Princess Rhaena would shortly then after marry Valarr and left the south. Her marriage to the future Lord Aurion was largely uneventful and peaceful. Despite their differing religious views the marriage was considered uneventful. As a way of making his wife happy Valarr would build a sept in New Valyria so his wife could pray and practice her faith. With the less fanatical followers of the faith fleeing from the conflicts in the south, more septs would be built all over Avalon, over the years the followers of the faith would not become the dominant religion in Avalon, but just as well their numbers did not dwindle. Unfortunately those who worshipped the Seven in the North would be branded as heretics by the Faith in the South, this would result in a religious schism dividing the followers of the faith between the faithful (normal followers), fanatics, and the moderates in the North, as they were privately labelled as traitors, a separate clergy would form in Avalon.

Rhaena would pass away in her sleep peacefully two years after her husband in 212 AC, she was survived by two sons and a daughter and three grandchildren. The marriage helped in dissolving tensions between House Aurion and the Iron throne and even with the untimely death of Viserys a year after his coronation, the following years were relatively peaceful.

Ignorance of Avalon and House Aurion and Information gathering

"Information is a curious thing, it can be the end of a conflict or it could prevent one from beginning in the first place" -Lord Maekar III Aurion, First Warden of Avalon

"How is it that we know so little of them? For god's sake, we know more about the North than we do them! they claim to be of Valyrian descent, their military is well structured, and in open and pitched battle father is hard-pressed to defeat them. It's as if they devoted time and resources to falsify information about themselves" - Tyrion Lannister

While arguably one of the strongest if not the strongest kingdom, Avalon was still located in the North, a place commonly thought as the end of civilized Westeros. Over the years House Aurion and its vassals had a tendency to isolate themselves to a degree. This isn't to say that they did not interact with the other kingdoms, they established trade deals with House Stark and minor Riverland houses such as Blackwood and Mallister. The other kingdoms did not forget that they were around, but the lack of Northerners down south resulted in both speculation and dismissiveness towards them, as mentioned previously their isolationist habits were even picked up by House Stark and their vassals, both because of proximity and the fact that they have to pass through Avalon to get to the South. As such this ignorance extended to them as well.

While the other Kingdoms dismissed them as savages that should have been brought to heel and nothing of note, House Aurion did not dismiss the other kingdoms, in fact, there were several groups they kept an eye on. For a time they were actually wary of House Stark, their neighbors, after all to them a Noble House that has been around for thousands of years is not an enemy you should light of, or make an enemy of in the first place if you can avoid it. However and perhaps thankfully, those fears were put to rest after some time.

House Aurion kept an eye on the more immediate or potentially immediate threats. One of the Houses kept under scrutiny at all times were the Greyjoys of the Iron Isles, the leaders of the Ironborn, Lord Aurion did not believe that House Targaryen's rule of the majority of Westeros would be a deterrent to future raids on Avalon, as such they expanded their fleet to number seventy-five galleys from the original fifty.

If one were to visit New Valyria or White Harbour after the Conquest they would not enter the city proper. Instead, visitors would be placed in the Sailor's Quarter which also acted as a market for trade goods coming from Essos or in the case of those who travel by land the Visitors Quarter. Visitors and merchants could freely visit both Districts but were barred from the rest of the City. This had the effect of limiting the information gathering of spies from the Iron Throne.

This ignorance of Avalon extends to many things one such thing is Avalon's military capabilities. Until the rebellion, the other six kingdoms were unaware of the differences between their armies and Avalon's. During the Rebellions, the other lords slowly started realizing how dangerous the House Aurion really was when Elaena Aurion hastily diverted and had her brother William lead a force 10,000 soldiers to rescue Robert Baratheon at Stoney Sept. Despite being outnumbered a by a significant margin, numbers meant little in the close quarters of the town. The Legionaries led by William were better trained and better equipped for close quarters fighting, and so a numerically inferior force decimated a numerically superior one.

By the end of the Rebellion the Southern lords kept an eye on them, although some still view them as savages, others view them as a dangerous force, thanks to their recent annexation of the Three sisters, with the Lord of Moat Cailin citing the fact that the Iron throne and the lords of the Three sisters did nothing to stop the pirates based there from attacking White harbour and raiding the Moat. This forceful annexation has soured relations between the Vale and Avalon. With the recent knowledge that House Aurion aided House Stark in subjugating the Isle of Skagos decades ago. A number of nobles realized that House Aurion could shift the balance of power in Westeros if pushed...

Company of the Rose and the Essos

Two years after the Conquest, House Aurion made a concerted effort to establish a network of spies; one such example would be the Company of the Rose. While most in the North were accepting of the idea of bowing to the iron throne to avoid bloodshed, there were still a number of discontented people. These individuals saw no real reason to bow to this new king, the only reason they had not left was primarily due to loyalty to the Warden of Avalon and the Warden of the North. However, House Aurion saw an opportunity. A few months later a number of Northerners leave Westeros, saying that they would never bow to the Targaryen King, they go into self-imposed exile and formed a sellsword company known as the Company of the Rose. What the other kingdoms did not know was that House Aurion had orchestrated it, they did not know that these men were still loyal to Avalon. That their purpose was to be the eyes and ears for Avalon in Essos.

The Company would take contracts in the Essos, and through their work build up a network of contacts and informants that would give the Company information on the political landscape, who was fighting who and more. The Company would be used to shift the balance of power in the free cities in favor of Avalon and the North.

By the time of the Rebellion, the Company of Rose had built a reputation as a brutal yet effective fighting force. They were known for staying loyal to an employer when hired and they would ignore any attempts to bribe them to walk away, that when bought they stayed bought. The Company had built a large network of informants that gave them up to reliable information on the conflicts between the free cities, individuals of note, and information on anyone who could potentially threaten them. This information would always find itself in the hands of House Aurion, who acted upon said information accordingly. When the Rebellion occurred they returned home to fight under their "former" liege lords in the name of overthrowing the Targaryens, and when the Rebellion ended they returned to Essos with the intent of continuing their work...

 **AN:**

 **At the moment its a case of "out of sight out of mind" when it comes to knowledge about Avalon, after all aside from their carefully placed spy network Avalon stays out of the South even after the Rebellion, the North also benefits from this since Avalon separates the North from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, added to the fact that White Harbour and New Valyria built a sort sailors/ travellers quarter to confine visitors. At most the South is aware of how many men they can raise but they lack awareness of what they're capable of. is it realistic? maybe, maybe not. I may have to look this over in the future**

 **The setting I intend to create is a new faction/kingdom integrated into Westeros and then being dragged into Robert's Rebellion and the War of the Five Kings(may be named differently in the fic) given their friendly ties with and close proximity I'm pretty sure it's obvious who they will side with. While I have not talked about it much, despite the loss of territory the North is arguably stronger than in canon, after all, thanks to their neighbors they have more food which in a way helps people survive winter. More people surviving leads to development in the region, development leads to better infrastructure and so on and so forth. Which results in a Stronger North.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hello! First of all thanks for reading guys, this is my first foray into fanfiction and it is somewhat encouraging that people like the concept I'm running with, Hopefully, I'll do it justice.**

 **One of the motivating factors for choosing parts of the North as Avalon's territory stems from the fact that House Stark could not manage the Land properly (in the sense that they were one of the poorer and least populous kingdoms), it was too big for them to realistically govern. With half of it being under another noble house, it becomes easier to manage or govern.**

 **By the time of the conquest and onwards House Aurion could be described by the old adage "If you wish for peace, prepare for war" in the sense that after the conflicts the faced when settling parts of the North they became very vigilant when it comes looking for outside threats, They didn't build a large navy until the Ironborn attacked and even after they had defeated them they maintained their fleet so they could defend themselves from future attacks, likewise the numerous conflicts they involved in before they came to Westeros made them a little paranoid/vigilant (whatever you want to call it) to the point that they keep portion of their army constantly active in the event that they have to go to war.**

 **While this is a long way off but this does result in a somewhat less active role during the War of the Five Kings as they're fending off the entirety of Iron fleet (which is much larger than in canon because of their constant attacks on House Aurion in the past) led by the Greyjoys.**

 **Still learning about formatting on this site.**

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An Excerpt on Technology in Avalon

House Aurion was always filled with learned individuals, this innate desire for obtaining and utilizing knowledge was subconsciously imposed on their subjects. As they built the kingdom various guilds formed as the land was developed. The more notable guilds were the ones devoted to blacksmithing, woodworking and farming. But there was one more, one formed and backed by House Aurion, The Guild of Engineers. This guild would be responsible for the major infrastructure projects in Avalon as well as the development of weapons and improvements to weapons.

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 _Food_

 _"As our Northern neighbors always say, Winter is Coming, and we are always ready for its arrival"_ \- Lady Elaena Aurion upon inquiry from Olenna Tyrell on why they do not purchase foodstuffs from the Reach.

One of the smartest decisions made by Rhaenyra Aurion was to gather aurochs in their territory and then distributing herds to the major holds. This gave the Valyrians and Northerners another source of food and more importantly fur. The fur from the aurochs could be used for clothing,

The Farmer's guild was one of the more larger guilds that were established in Avalon. When House Aurion first settled in the Area that would become Avalon they ordered their farmers to implement crop rotation, in one year they would plant a field and leave one alone and in the following year, they would switch fields, this would result in an increase of crop yield. For a time this was enough to feed mouths of their subjects. However, thanks to years of peace and abundance of food the guild opted to experiment to see if they find a way to increase the amount of food they could grow. With the introduction of better tools thanks to the efforts of the other guilds, they started experimenting with their fields to try and increase crop yield and made several advances that did so.

Thanks to their trade relations with various foreign powers from their previous travels House Aurion had access to different types of crops not normally found in Westeros.

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 _Weapons_

 _"The war has ended, But it does not mean we should rest easy" -_ Rodrik Tallhart, member of the Engineer's Guild, post-rebellion

 _"No one builds a wall that big to defend themselves against a children's tale, nor would they build it that high to fend off wildlings"_ \- Lord William Aurion, upon laying eyes on the Wall for the first time.

The Engineer's Guild was also responsible for the improvement of weaponry. When collaborating with the Blacksmiths Guild, they found a more efficient and cheaper method of forging steel, while it's quality not comparable to Valyrian Steel and house Aurion had not forgotten how to create it, Avalon Steel was easier to mass produce and better than the castle-forged steel used by the other kingdoms. It could also be utilized to make better tools for blacksmiths or better farming implements. While it was not a secret that the weaponry they made was of much better quality (as they provided arms and armor to the North, and for a brief time after Robert's coronation the other kingdoms) the method used to make this high-quality steel was, only those who were part of the Guilds were aware of the methods. Due to the efforts of their own spies and the fact that none of the guildsmen could be swayed to part with said knowledge, it stayed secret.

When House Aurion originally landed in Westeros, it was also the first time they were introduced to new forms of weaponry, one such example is the crossbow. Legionaries got their hands on a number of these weapons, and it fascinated them, compared to arrows a quarrel shot from a crossbow was more likely to pierce plate armor that was commonly seen on knights add to the fact that it was also faster to train on in comparison to the Bow. As such a number of Legion Auxillia adopted the crossbow overtime and some Legionaries would take crossbows in place of throwing spears.

By the time they settled The Guild of Engineers also created an improvement on the traditional Crossbow, the new invention was referred to as a repeating crossbow.(for reference/appearance google "Volley Crossbow" ) As the name implies this crossbow was capable of firing ten quarrels before it needed to be loaded again, they also created a smaller and lighter handheld variant that fired 6 smaller quarrels and while it lacked the penetration power of the bigger crossbow a well-placed shot could still kill a knight. This variant was often carried by veteran legionaries in addition to javelins.

Another weapon made by the guild was Wildfire. However, alterations were made to the composition of the substance. Resulting in a somewhat weaker variant of Wildfire. While this substance lacked the destructive potency of Alchemists guild's traditional Wildfire, this substance was more stable and less likely to cause accidents. While unnamed this substance could be smothered on your skin and it would not burn, unless if it was exposed to flame or a strong source of heat. When ignited the flames fueled by it would burn through most materials and like wildfire, it can burn even when water is thrown on it. Countermeasures to this version of Wildfire was to smother the flame with sand or soil. Unfortunately for the guild (and perhaps fortunately for everyone else), it takes extensive amounts of time to make and the materials required to make it are low in abundance in Avalon. The warships of House Aurion were often equipped with catapults to deploy wildfire as well as barrels of dirt and sand in case of accidents.

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Cities and Towns

 _"When did they get the time to build that? it's as big as King's Landing, with none of the stench too!"_ \- King Robert Baratheon upon visiting New Valyria

 _"In the hands of the Northerners, Moat Cailin was an impressive fortress. In the hands of House Aurion, it became an insurmountable bastion, one would have to pay a hefty price in blood to take it" -_ Tyrion Lannister, in a letter addressed to Lord Tywin

In more recent times the size of New Valyria is comparable to King's landing. The architecture would be seen as a combination of Valyrian and First men architecture. Towers and spires of Valyrian make dot the city. One can see ships pass through the northern canal built centuries ago. A massive curtain wall (think of the Black walls of Volantis) surrounds the city itself along twelve towers and several platforms for ballistae. What was unknown to must save their closest allies is that the fortifications of New Valyria and Moat Cailin were built (or in the case of Moat Cailin rebuilt) using magic, like their ancestor's the walls they built were made as if shaped from clay. This extended to the Avalon road, which was shaped using similar methods

When House Aurion found Moat Cailin it was starting to fall into disrepair, several of the twenty towers had fallen apart and portions of the curtain wall had fallen into disrepair and collapsed. When Laenor first found it he ordered the dismantling of the wooden Keep, with most of it gone it did not take long to do so. He then had his magic users rebuild the keep using stone. At the time he could not expand the defenses so he restored it to it's original state, Twenty towers, and a restored fifty-foot curtain wall. It wasn't until Rhaenyra had made peace with the North that the Fortress saw any improvements. After the negotiations with House Stark, Rhaenyra had the Causeway expanded and added an additional set of defenses including another fifteen towers and second curtain wall this one being forty feet tall. By modern-day Moat Cailin was considered one of the greatest fortresses ever built.

Ironhold is a city devoted to the mining industry, built by House Aurion with the aid of House Tallhart. The Mountains surrounding the city provide a natural defense which is further augmented by five towers and a thirty-foot tall curtain wall, these mountains also possess raw metals that are mined out by House Tallhart.

Castle Aegis originally acted as a major naval base for Aurion's fleet. With half of the entire fleet stationed there as well as a fishing fleet being docked there, Castle Aegis also acts as a deterrent for raids by sea. After House Belaerys was granted Castle Aegis, they built an additional navy to defend the coast resulting in a large number of Aurion ships being sent back to New Valyria.

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Traditions and mindset

 _"They attacked our homes hoping they could rape our women and plunder our lands and they expect mercy from us? they'll never learn if we show mercy, they will keep doing it again and again and again. We didn't start this fight, they did, but we are going to end it"_ -Lord William Aurion, Lord of Moat Cailin, When Jon Arryn confronts him on the "merciless" tactics utilized by House Aurion and its vassals against the Ironborn.

 _"Do not bother Jon, I could not stop him if I tried, when he has made a decision he cannot be swayed from it, and he will not care for your opinion nor the opinions of others."_ -Lord Eddard Stark, Warden of the North, upon the Hand of the King trying to convince him to stop William Aurion from using wildfire to burn down the Ironborn castles

 _"What honor was there in letting them take thralls and letting raid our homes? You speak of doing the honorable thing and showing mercy, but where was their honor when they attacked us? Your precious honor means very little when it comes to war"_ – Lady Elaena Aurion, Warden of Avalon, Lady of New Valyria, At Kings Landing defending her brother's actions during the Ironborn Rebellion

On one hand, there are traditions that House Aurion follows or have adopted since they settled in Westeros. The easiest example of an adopted tradition would be the guest right, it was introduced to House Aurion when they met with members of House Reed and Flint and it is a tradition they have maintained since, one under the Guest right in Avalon had no fear of their hosts as long they themselves adhered to it. Another such example was adopted from House Stark, in the form of how they executed criminals by beheading them personally. It can also be said that members of House Aurion rarely give their word to anyone save close allies. But when their word is given it is rarely if ever broken. This can go both ways, if they give their word to not take up arms for a specific reason, they will honor that agreement, that said if they promise to utterly destroy the person they speak to the next time they offend them? They will keep their word.

A number of nobles in the South view war as a glorious affair, for them it is a time when one could win glory for themselves and their house. House Aurion had a different view on this, for them it was unsightly and an unpleasant occurrence that constantly happened . Having fought in numerous conflicts in the name of the Freehold, House Aurion became weary of conflict, this wasn't to say they would lay down and surrender in the face of adversity, but rather they tried to avoid conflict, but when someone commits an offence on their house or their subjects they were more than willing to repay them in kind. Some of the kingdoms in the south mistook their reticence for fighting as weakness, unfortunately for them, they would learn otherwise when they confronted the legions during the crusades and in other conflicts.

Many southern lords view the actions of Lords of Avalon and the tools of war they utilized as dishonorable. There was no honor in killing knights with crossbows nor was their honor in smoking out defenders with siege weaponry. In battle both House Aurion and their vassals had a tendency ignore military courtesy, If they had a weapon the other side does not have, they take advantage of it. In the rare cases where they had numbers on their side, they would exploit it for all its worth. If a knight rode up to their battle lines to challenge the other knights and nobles to duels of honor the response would be along the lines of hurled spears or loosed arrows and crossbow bolts, to them chivalry had no place in war. Likewise, if they wanted a specific individual dead, be they knight or noble or anything else they would ignore any plea of mercy. One such example was when William Aurion killed several nobles after they had attempted to surrender during the Ironborn Rebellion.

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Knights in Avalon

Until Rhaena's marriage to Valarr, the concept of knights was somewhat foreign in Avalon, they had heard of it in passing before they landed and encountered knights during their journey North, in most cases these knights were hostile and to the traveling Valyrians, they were simply heavily armored and well-trained enemies. As such knights were a rare sight in Avalon and remained such until Rhaena Targaryen's marriage to Valarr Aurion when a number of knights sworn to House Targaryen accompanied and stayed with her.

In time these knights would forgo their oaths to House Targaryen and swear allegiance to Lords of Avalon. These knights would eventually form the Order of the Dragonguard, knights dedicated to the defense of House Aurion and its vassal lords and in some cases acting as an elite striking force for their legions. With the faith establishing a minor foothold in Avalon, some of smallfolk who followed the faith squired under these knights eventually being knighted themselves. Like many organizations, this knightly order established it's headquarters in New Valyria, with many chapter houses being built throughout Avalon the Dragonguard's numbers would grow to the hundreds by the time of the Rebellion and grow further after it. Over time the Knights started to join the ranks of Avalon's Legions, leading fellow knights and auxiliary riders into battle as the vanguard.

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 **AN: Wasn't fully satisfied with how this one came out but I had already started on it about a week and a half ago so I saw no reason to not publish it, expect a possible revamp.**

 **Yes, a reference to Elder Scrolls, I couldn't help myself.**

 **Originally wanted to call their variation of wildfire Naphatar, this is a reference to David Gemmel's Trojan war novels it was utilized by the Main characters as a naval weapon.**

 **In a way House Aurion is the opposite of House Targaryen, whereas House Targaryen decided to conquer Westeros, House Aurion was satisfied with the little kingdom carved out for themselves and saw no reason for expansion. House Aurion is more or less still around and while not they're mentioned House Aurion has a number of members by the time of the Rebellion whereas House Targaryen is almost rendered extinct.**

 **Though House Aurion and it's vassals try to avoid conflict I can't call them pacifists because they fight back, but same time I can't call them warmongers so they're kind of stuck in the middle, In most cases House Aurion will not actively seek battle but they will take their enemies down hard and tend to opt for a permanent solution when dealing with them, they are usually only dissuaded from it by the few individuals they call friends or allies.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN:** **Some points from previous entries will be reiterated.**

 **Admittedly i'm messing with a lot of canon history and I probably wont be stopping.**

 **The military strength of the North and Avalon will be similar number wise, obviously, there are numerous factors that can alter how strong an army is in actual battle(House Aurion possesses a variety of weapons and have better armed and armored troops with House Stark coming in second in that regard, House Stark would trump them in terms of adaptability)**

 **Dragons will be referred by genders (e.x Stormcrown is male, Bluefyre is female, Seaheart is female)**

 **House Stark and Aurion are good allies, this started with Aurion aiding them during a harsh winter, followed by the sense of camaraderie they and their vassals built up in the face of Andal/ Faith of the Seven Fanatics trying to bring them to heel.**

 **For the actual fic, I'm debating on if I start the narrative by the time of _Game of Thrones_ or during Robert's rebellion.**

House Stark and the North

After Bran the Builder had finished raising the Wall he had to contend with his neighbors, The Barrow kings, The Red Kings and many more posed a threat to the survival of House Stark. The most troublesome foe they fought were the Red Kings of the Dreadfort. Many battles had been waged between House Stark and House Bolton with neither side gaining an advantage over the other. Due to this, both Houses found it difficult to gather allies with House Stark gaining slightly better success. This stalemate was eventually broken when the Andals invaded. By the time of the Andal invasion a number of noble families had started pledging allegiance to House Stark and House Bolton's numbers beginning to dwindle, The last Red King, Rogar Bolton decided to submit to Theon Stark, For a time the North was united and they had numerous successes against the Andal Invaders. During the Invasion the Fortress of Moat Cailin was erected in the Neck.

But alas, it ended once the Andals ceased their incursions to the North, Without the Andal threat over their heads some of the Northern Lords started to chafed under Stark rule. The most Notable houses that eventually split from the rule of the Winter Kings were House's Dustin, Tallhart, and Ryswell. Alone these houses were no threat to House Stark but together they could pose a danger to House Stark's survival, Northern History would have them marked as the Northern Noble Alliance. Several factors allowed the Alliance's survival in the beginning, House Bolton had rebelled alongside House Greystark, when House Stark had put down the Rebellion, the alliance formed and winter had arrived preventing House Stark from taking any Action against the alliance for a time. This Alliance fought a number of battles against The Winter Kings, this opposition to House Stark would last for centuries until House Aurion arrived in the North.

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House Aurion settles in the North

 _"Walk away, wash your hands of this and never take up arms against us again, or you will find that we will show no mercy the next time we meet" -_ A missive from House Aurion sent to heirs of the Alliance nobles after the bodies of the Alliance Lords had been sent home.

The Status quo in the north ended when a Valyrian noble house landed in Westeros. After spending several years travelling the world, House Aurion landed in Westeros and eventually travelled to the North. Settling in Moat Cailin they were eventually attacked by the Northern Noble Alliance for being foreigners holding an important position. At first they drove them back, even sacking a small but growing settlement under House Aurion. Those victories would not last as House Aurion, brought their dragons and their armies to bear on the alliance, decimating them. The Lords were slain in battle and their bodies sent home by Rhaenyra Aurion with an ultimatum: Walk away, or die by dragonfire the next time we meet in battle. Instead, the Alliance nobles chose to pledge allegiance to House Aurion. They made this decision because they realized that if they pledged allegiance to House Stark, there was a chance that they would have to fight House Aurion again.

This these events were witnessed by the spies and scouts of House Stark. At this point, King Jon Stark called his vassals and bannermen. Before House Aurion had crushed the alliance, House Stark was planning an offensive campaign to remove the alliance as a threat only to witness foreigners doing it for them. The alliance nobles proceeded to pledge allegiance to these newcomers did surprise them however, further reports from scouts made the King in the North wary of antagonizing them. Weeks later they learned of how the mountain tribes had formed an alliance with House Aurion and decided to enter talks with the newcomers themselves.

To the King's relief, House Aurion was amenable to the idea of friendly relations, they decided to make a map of the North and draw out which territory belonged to whom. Both sides stood down and focused on the development of their territories.

Many years later the combination of a rebellion and a very harsh winter destroys a number of food stockpiles. Left with no choice House Stark reached out to their neighbors for food and other supplies. Having gathered a significant stockpile House Aurion obliges and sends caravans filled with food to the various holdings of House Stark. Noting the generosity of their neighbors House Stark once more entered talks with House Aurion. By the end of winter both sides had ironed out trade agreements, with Northmen outnumbering the newcomers House Aurion would hire them as a labour force for the construction of the castles, towns and holdfasts, Payment was not always gold or silver in some cases these laborers were given food and furs that were worth just as much.

With the trade from their neighbors, House Stark and their vassals flourished, with a consistent source a food being provided by their neighbors in addition to the farming methods they obtained from House Aurion more people survived the winter and the North faced a significant population growth. Said population growth provided manpower for various construction projects including a proper road system, the establishment of new holdfasts and iron mines were established in the mountains north of Winterfell. Despite the loss potential new territory the Kings of Winter benefitted from their new neighbors.

Another agreement made between the two kingdoms involved the Wall. As a gesture of good will and to help allieviate the growing strain of manning the entirety of the Wall, House Aurion sent five thousand men to help garrison and maintain the westernmost castles. These men did not pledge themselves to the nights watch and were still beholden to House Aurion

When Aegon began his conquest neither House Aurion nor House Stark responded, as far as they knew Aegon would face stiff resistance even if he did have dragons, nevertheless both Houses started gathering their forces in the off chance that Aegon would defeat them in quick fashion. To their surprise the southern kingdoms folded easily, too easily. King Torrhen was surprised to find that House Aurion still had their Dragons when Maekar Aurion brought Stormcrown and Bluefyre to confront House Targaryen's three dragons.

Neither scholar nor maester would ever be able to explain why it happened, but when the armies confronted each other at Moat Cailin, Balerion, Vhagar and Meraxes shook off their riders and attacked Stormcrown and Bluefyre. Both sides were transfixed by the fight occurring the sky, Balerion had attacked Stormcrown and to the horror of the Targaryens, Stormcrown shrugged off Balerions assault and proceeded to tackle and slam Balerion into the ground. Vhagar and Meraxes were likewise defeated by Bluefyre alone.

After the fight between the dragon, the Targaryen host simply withdrew from the vicinity of Moat Cailin. House Stark and Aurion sent a messenger to offer talks with the Targaryen King. Not much was recorded of the conference. But the North had pledged allegiance and House Targaryen withdrew, however both House Aurion and Stark seem to have maintained a high degree of autonomy despite being beholden to the Targaryen Dynasty. Aegon was wary of trying to weaken or undermine either of them due to their strong ties with one another.

* * *

After the Conquest

A century after Aegon's Conquest, raiders from Skagos were harassing House Karstark's holdings and they sought out aid, House Stark and House Umber brought up troops to reinforce Karhold and House Aurion was granted permission to sail their fleet through northern waters and land their Legions in Skagos itself. With the Legions fighting on their side, House Stark was able to subjugate the entirety of Skagos. The isles were divided and given control to both Karstark and Umber further cementing their loyalty to House Stark.

However, House Aurion's aid was not entirely altruistic, when they surveyed Skagos in the past they found large quantities of stone that was significantly more durable than the quarried stone used to make defenses in Avalon's castles and holdfasts. House Aurion's aid was provided to the North on the condition that they could set up quarries in Skagos for a time, this skagosi stone would be used to build new defenses in Avalon. It wasn't until after they had gotten what they needed that the North realized the significance of Skagosi Stone and started emulating Avalon's usage of it. House Stark built a larger curtain wall around Winterfell, when it was completed the older defenses were torn down.

During the Dance of Dragons, Avalon and the North remained neutral, they did not want to involve themselves in a civil war and at the time were content with standing back and observing. This changed when a flood of refugees from the fighting fled northwards. While this did not effect their food stores significantly the refugees brought horror stories of the lands down south beign set aflame, how they dreaded the flap of wings and were afraid to look at the sky. House Aurion and Stark called their banners and marched down south with the intent of ending the conflict. With the current Lord Aurion too ill to march, Cregan Stark was given command of the Avalon host with the legionaries ordered by Lord Aurion to follow Lord Stark. When they marched down south they carved a bloody swath to King's landing only to find out that both claimants had perished.

Unamused by the whole situation Cregan forced King Aegon III to name him the hand of the king and in over the course of a week set about purging the nobility. Eighty-six nobles and knights were arrested, most were put to the sword bar for twenty-three who pledge to take the black. When the Northerners marched back the southern kingdoms would call the event the "Hour of the North".

When Baelor the Blessed imprisoned Valarr Aurion. House Stark began to call their own banners to support their longtime allies. It nearly became another war but it was averted by both Baelor's death and Viserys II Targaryen's ascension to the throne. Viserys had also arranged a marriage between his niece and the abducted Valarr Aurion. One fact the remained the same that very few of the Targaryen Kings seem to remember. If you commit offense on House Stark, House Aurion would also take offense, if you commit an offense on House Aurion, House Stark would not hesitate to support them in taking vengeance on those who wronged them.

* * *

Modern-day Northern Army (Post-Rebellion)

While impressed by the Legions of House Aurion, House Stark lacked the means to completely retrain their soldiers to the Legion's fighting style; however they did adopt several practices. Their men-at-arms were well trained, said training was comparable to that of Southern Knights After the Rebellion, House Stark maintains a force of 12,000 men-at-arms, they can also call upon a reserve of 40,000 men (18,000 additional men-at-arms. 22,000 levies). In Addition, the combined might of House Stark's vassals number an additional 40,000 soldiers.

In the modern day, the legionaries of House Aurion opted to carry poleaxes or halberds instead of their traditional spears into battle. The Men-at-arms of the North chose to make the Halberd their standard weapon and the smallfolk levies were armed with spears. Not all Northern soldiers favored using the Halberd and some carried a two-handed blade known as the Falx. The Falx was a long curved blade with a hook-like shape, The blade itself was heavy and thick. Some soldiers would use it to split the shields of their enemies or in some cases take them from their opponents grasp. Thanks to the trade with their neighbors House Stark was able to provide the men-at-arms with half-plate armor akin to the one used by the Legion, while their levies were provided high-quality chainmail. They were also trained in the use of throwing spears, though most of the new recruits opted to use smaller "Throwing Darts" to surprisingly deadly effect.

* * *

Modern-Day Avalon (Silver) Legion 

As previously mentioned the Silver Legion was originally based off of the Lockstep Legions of the Ghiscari Empire, in order to combat the new foes they encountered in Westeros they had to adopt alternative weaponry, in some cases trading their swords for hammers and switching bows to crossbows, for a time their fighting style remained the same. But over time they found deficiencies in their tactics, they were too slow to react and in some cases they were outflanked leading to a significant number of casualties. Their spears were not capable holding off a cavalry charge. As such the legionaries trained in the use of Halberds and pikes in order to ward off knights. This wasn't to say that they did away with their traditional weaponry, but groups of legionaries were dedicated to the use of halberds or longer poleaxes, these legionaries would carry smaller shields in place of the standard legion issued shield. However not all legionaries favored the use of polearms either, some of the older legionaries carried two-handed blades such as a greatsword or in some cases the Northern falx.

As far as the rest of the kingdoms sans the North were concerned they were just an army with a fancy name from an age long past, due to their somewhat isolationist tendencies they showed no signs of being the same force that aided the Freehold in its conquests. It was only during and after Robert's Rebellion when they conducted a campaign of defiance against the royalist forces under the command of their sworn lady that they faced any form of scrutiny. By the time of the War of the Five Kings the words: Disciplined, resilient, and relentless were considered synonymous with Avalon's Legions.

While the Legionaries remained a core component of Avalon's might, not all were cut out to join them and not all were willing to commit a lifetime of service. These men would become Auxilliaries, in most cases they acted in a support role, manning siege weapons, providing ranged support via crossbow and bow. Additionally, not all riders were knights, while the Dragonguard knights are fearsome foes the Auxilliary Riders were mounted non-legionary soldiers who are more than capable of giving the Dragonguard's southern cousins a fight to behold.

* * *

Timeline of House Aurion before conquest (WIP) 

**375 BC:**

Laenor Aurion leads his house and subjects on an exodus from the Freehold, forms exodus fleet.

 **373 BC:**

\- Exodus fleet lands in the Basilisk Isles, Sothoryos.

\- Stays to gather supplies, explore Sothoryos.

 **370 BC:**

\- Exodus fleet departs from Isles.

\- Sails to what is now known as Yi Ti, stays for several years. Dragged into several local conflicts, takes in a number of locals as auxiliary soldiers, said soldiers and families join exodus fleet.

 **367 BC:**

\- Rhaenyra Aurion is born.

\- Exodus fleet departs from Yi Ti, Travels back to Basilisk isles, then proceeded to sail and land in an uninhabited part of the Summer Isles

 **365 BC:**

\- Haegon Aurion born.

\- Exodus fleet leaves Summer isles lands in the stepstones

 **350 BC:**

\- Exodus fleet lands in Westeros, near Saltpans. Boats are disassembled and House Aurion marches northwards.

 **349 BC:**

\- House Aurion settles in the fortress that the native populace call Moat Cailin, Laenor Aurion passes away from undocumented illness. Succeeded by Rhaenyra Aurion as Head of House.

 **348 BC:**

\- Rhaenyra orders the construction of a Town near Moat Cailin. Town is named Loros.

 **346 BC:**

\- House's Reed and Flint make contact with House Aurion

 **345 BC:**

\- Northern Noble Alliance bring 30,000 soldiers to attack Loros, Loros is destroyed but the nobles are repelled by Rhaenyra Aurion and the Silver Legion.

\- Loros is never rebuilt.

 **344 BC:**

\- Three months after the burning of Loros, the Alliance confronted by the entirety of the Silver Legion, Stormcrown and Bluefyre are present as well.

\- Before the battle Lady Rhaenyra offers mercy to those who surrender, a number of Alliance Soldiers surrender.

\- Battle commences resulting in a decisive victory for House Aurion. Bodies of nobles sent home, heirs of Alliance houses swear allegiance to House Aurion.

 **343 BC:**

\- House Reed and House Flint swear allegiance to House Aurion.

\- House Stark summons vassals to deliberate on what to do with the dragon lords.

\- House Aurion approaches mountain tribes, several agreements are made and the tribesman have formed alliances with House Aurion

\- House Stark sends messengers to start talks with House Aurion. Talks end with a non aggression pact between House Stark and Aurion and winter arrives.

\- Northern territories claimed by House Aurion would henceforth be referred to as "Avalon"

 **342 BC:**

\- Rhaenyra Aurion dispatches men to survey the lands held by her vassals, finds several promising sites for new castles and towns as well as a location for a capital. Valyrians start building small outposts and start preparing for farming.

\- Rhaenyra orders her vassals to gather Aurochs that dot their territory, she proceeds to distribute Herds among her vassals

 **340 BC:**

\- Winter ends, Rhaenyra Aurion orders the beginning of numerous construction projects throughout her holdings.

\- Guilds are established.

\- Construction of New Valyria begins, seeing the potential for a canal House Aurion starts devotes minimal amounts of resources and manpower to lay down the groundwork.

 **335 BC:**

\- New Valyria properly established, Defences are slowly built around the newly established city.

\- With the aid of their Vassals, House Aurion begins the construction of the castles that will be eventually known as Castle Aegis, Ironhold and Laenor's Square.

\- Construction of roads and the canal begins.

 **333 BC:**

\- Septons arrive at Moat Cailin trying to convince Rhaenyra to convert to the Faith.

\- Rhaenyra refuses to convert, Septons threaten her and are forcibly removed.

\- Andal Crusades begin, the Crusaders reach Moat Cailin and are violently repelled by the defenders.

 **3** **30 BC:**

\- Ironborn begin raiding into Avalon. This occurs when the faith launched a crusade to take Moat Caitlin

\- New Valyria attacked, repelled by the Legion who arrives just in time to prevent another Loros incident.

\- Avalon fleet begins construction to defend shores.

 **328 BC:**

\- Avalon Fleet completed placed under the command of Haegon Aurion.

\- Ironborn attempt another Raid into Avalon, Ironborn fleet destroyed several ships captured, no survivors.

 **300 BC:**

\- In the midst of a Harsh winter, House Stark reaches out to House Aurion for aid

\- House Aurion distributes food throughout the North

\- Haegon Aurion dies of Illness, later study of his recorded symptoms by the Order of Scholars provides evidence that he was a victim of an early example of The Great Spring sickness that struck the South centuries later.

 **310 BC:**

-Construction of canal is completed

 **281 BC:**

-Rhaenyra Aurion passes away peacefully in her sleep, succeeded by her son, Baelon Aurion.

 **114 BC:**

Doom of Valyria, the Freehold collapses

House Belaerys escapes the doom, sails east through the saffron straits

 **113 BC:**

\- House Belaerys sails past Ulthos and after a long and arduous voyage somehow reaches the sunset sea, and lands in the Summer Islands

\- Hearing of the survival of House Targaryen, members of the house suggest sailing to Dragonstone.

\- Envoy of House Aurion arrives at summer isles.

\- Head of House, Daemon Belaerys recognizes Aurion sigil and approaches envoy

\- Realizing that their longtime allies not only survived their exodus centuries ago but had settled territory and built their own city, House Belaerys decides on sailing to Avalon.

 **112 BC:**

\- House Belaerys arrives at New Valyria

\- House Aurion welcomes them, having lost almost all of their resources and all of their dragons House Belaerys chooses pledges allegiance to House Aurion.

\- House Aurion grants one of their own castles: Castle Aegis and the surrounding town and holdfasts to House Belaerys.

 **105 BC:**

\- House Belaerys hatches a Dragon under the same phenomena as House Aurion's original dragons. The Dragon is named Seaheart

 **2 BC :**

\- Aegon Targaryen's Conquest Begins

 **1 BC:**

\- Aegon marches his army northwards

\- Three months later the Targaryen Army reaches Moat Cailin...

* * *

Brief excerpt on the Dragons of House Aurion

Dragons were arguably the most notable thing about the Valyrians, because of them the Freehold flourished. The three dragons of House Targaryen allowed them to conquer most of Westeros, and yet they remain a mystery. There have been many conflicting reports on how dragons are hatched but in most cases it is believed that a ritual involving fire and blood was required to hatch a dragon. Another mystery were the dragons of House Aurion, Stormcrown and Bluefyre. The oldest recorded observation of Stormcrown and Bluefyre dates back to a few years before the first Ghiscari War and yet they were still alive by the time of the Aegon's conquest thousands of years later. Another fact to note was the appearance of the dragons, both of them possessed a pair of legs and a pair of arms with their wings growing from their backs.

A journal written by Valaena Aurion left some insight. Stormcrown was hatched when Valaena was exploring a dormant volcano at the Fourteen Flames. According to her journal had already hatched by the time she found it. The hatchling attached itself to Valaena who was the first person it saw after being hatched and seemed to stay close to her. Bluefyre was the only dragon that House Aurion hatched on purpose, however they did not utilize the same method used by their fellow dragonlords, according toValaena's journal members of House Aurion could sense a stronger presence of magic in a number of locations dotting the Fourteen Flames, in this cases it was a volcano not too dissimilar to the one where Stormcrown was found, the egg was placed atop the dormant volcano and then bathed in Stormcrowns'sdragonfire and shortly thereafter Bluefyre was hatched. The last piece of information to note was how long-lived the dragons were as Journalswritten by other members of House Aurion had notes on Stormcrown andBluefyre's continued presence. One can also note that they've hatched other dragons before using the same method as the other dragonlords, but most of those dragons did not live past a hundred and fifty years of age. Their longer lifespans can most likely be attributed to how they were hatched.

Indeed said dragons have shown signs of better intelligence compared to the other Valyrian dragons, and their strength does not seem to fade over time. On the contrary, they seem to grow stronger as they get older...

* * *

 **AN: Now I know I just trounced over House Starks/The Norths canon history (they never gave a solid timeline of when House Stark took over the North just that they did, in fact, take control of the North) so I apologize if it doesn't make sense or if there are very large errors.**

 **Before you jump to conclusions, no Laenor wasn't poisoned he just died from an unknown illness**

 **The timeline is there to establish events that occurred in the history of the OC House, large gaps should be attributed to quiet years in between.**

 **Appearance wise Skagosi stone is like marble but in terms of durability it would be much tougher than the quarried stone used in Westerosi castles and fortifications**

 **If you scrolled to the bottom and want TL;DR here it is,**

 **The other Northern Kings put up a longer and bloodier fight against House Stark, Most if not all of the other houses submitted to House Stark during the Andals invasion. only for a number of them deciding to revolt. By the time House Aurion marches in House Stark are the only kings left however that doesn't mean there are unified. In this story the houses of the former kings (House Dustin) were somewhat embittered at the idea of bending knee to House Stark and as such banded together pooling their own resources. they put up a resistance against House Stark for a number of years until, they decided to attack newcomers in the form of House Aurion sacking/destroying one of their recently established settlement. Naturally, Lady Rhaenyra is pissed off by this and retaliates by wiping out their armies and killing the head of their houses in battle and sending an ultimatum.**

 **Some houses such as House Reed and Flint disappeared/ went into hiding. When House Aurion destroyed the armies of the last independent Northern Lords the children of the slain lords swore fealty to House Aurion rather than risk the possibility of them deciding to wipe them out. With House Aurion largely leaving them to their own devices after they settled, these Houses flourished under House Aurions rule.**

 **Google "dragon" and check the images, you see dragons with arms and legs.**

 **On a final note, I won't be posting new entries for about 2 weeks, i may make some stealth revision of entries to make sure its consistant and formatted but their wont be any new chapters for the time being.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: A combination of real-life circumstances and small bout of writers block delayed this, sorry about that.**

 **This is a character Bio on the Aurion siblings: Elaena and William. these two will be the Main characters and the main PoV's in my story, this is subject to editing when i've made certain decisions.**

 **due to the fact that shes head of House Elaena keeps her name rather than taking her husbands**

 **Their middle names were the names the other parent wanted for them (Shyra wanted to name Elaena "Mya" instead and Daemon wanted to name William "Jaehaerys")**

 **Shoutout to Seraphius for several ideas**

* * *

" Go ahead and kill me, it matters not, my daughter and son will avenge me"

\- Lord Daemon Aurion, His Last words before being set aflame. it was reported that he did not scream.

* * *

Elaena "Mya" Aurion

Physical Appearance: White of hair, Violet eyes ( Archtypical Valyrian features, google image "Valyrian Female" for actor reference Zita Gorog from Underworld and Underworld: Evolution )

Born: 259 AC

Age: 23 (Robert's Rebellion) 40 (WoFK)

Title: Lady of New Valyria, Dragonwrath (post-Robert's rebellion)

Flaw: Vengeful

Sadistic towards enemies (Read: Tortures prisoners)

Hot-headed (in comparison to her brother)

Envy of her brother ( worked that out)

Family: Aelyx Aurion (grandfather) Daemon Aurion (Father, deceased), Shyra Reed (Mother), William Aurion (brother), Howland Reed (Cousin),

Children: Haegon (II) Aurion (Son, deceased) Rhaena Aurion (daughter)

Spouse: Aemon Belaerys (deceased five years before WotFK, Hunting accident)

* * *

Notable Facts:

Lady (Ruler) of Avalon

Feared due to her tendency to take no prisoners during the rebellion as well as her brutal tactics, earned the nickname "Dragonwrath"

Burnt down several castles in the Reach during the rebellion

after the birth of her daughter, Elaena learned that she could not bear anymore children

Took up the mantle of Lady Paramount of Avalon after the Rebellion

* * *

Bio

The Eldest daughter of Daemon Aurion and Shyra Reed, Elaena was groomed to be next Warden of Avalon, whereas her brother was allowed to do as pleased. In a way she was envious of her brother's somewhat carefree lifestyle and the fact that he was not expected to become a lord. She was apoplectic with rage when she found out that her little brother ran off to Essos, though this was partially motivated by the fact that she herself wished to do something similar.

In some cases there were times where she wished her brother was the eldest born child rather than herself, and in many cases she was envious of her brother. when their parents forced William to study and train for the role of a lord he picked it up rather quickly.

Relations between her and William could be described and cold and even borderline hostile, they reconciled when her brother William rescued her from the Red Keep.

During the Rebellion with the death of her father Elaena's mental state was described as a cask of wildfire that could go off at any moment, it was mostly attributed to grieving. She threw herself into the campaign with reckless abandon going so far as to personally lead her men during the Battle at Highgarden where she broke the Tyrell host and began laying siege to the castle itself

* * *

Quotes about her

 _"She has a temper comparable to our king's"_

-Jon Arryn, Lord of the Vale, Warden of the East

" _When I first laid eyes on her, she seemed out of place. She reminded me of a beauty I met at court once, Men fought over that beauty and the Kingdoms bled when they did and it scared me when I saw how much alike they were in appearance. Now here she was sitting amidst the aftermath of the battle with a man I presume to be her brother, surrounded by corpses of the slain and the air was filled with the screams of the dying. There she was, eating and drinking with her brother like nothing was there..."_

\- Barristan Selmy, Kingsguard, talking about when he was brought to the Aurion siblings in the aftermath of the Battle at the Trident

* * *

William "Jaehaerys" Aurion

Physical appearance: Grey of hair(natural), Indigo Violet eyes (for armor aesthetic reference google "Valyrian Male" third result shift the colors blue. If you want an actor for reference, Michael Fassbender)

Titles and Nicknames: Lord of Moat Cailin, Berserker (Trident) Bloody Dragon (post-rebellion), Ironbane (Post Ironborn Rebellion) "Knight of the Laughing Tree"

Born: 268 AC

Age: 16 (Robert's Rebellion) 33 (WoFK)

Spouse: Lyanna Stark

Children: Jon Aurion, Rhaella Aurion

Family: Aelyx Aurion (grandfather) Daemon Aurion (Father) Shyra Reed (Mother) Elaena Aurion (sister), Rhaena Aurion (niece), Howland Reed (Cousin)

Flaws: Wrath (Nigh-impossible to dissuade from violent action when provoked)

Slow to forget and even slower to forgive

* * *

Notable Facts:

\- learned how to utilize magic

\- Fought in battle at the Age of Twelve

\- can communicate with animals to a lesser degree (animals can and have understood him, another part of his magic heritage)

\- Led an expedition into old Valyria at a young age, returned alive

\- Rescued his sister from the Red Keep

\- Temporarily Lord Paramount of Avalon stepped down after the rebellion, handing it back to his sister

\- Led a flanking maneuver that turned the battle of the trident in favour of the rebels

\- Earned the name "Ironbane" after the Ironborn Rebellion

\- Warden of Avalon in all but title

* * *

Son to Daemon Aurion, William was given a First men name at the insistence of his mother Shyra, added to the fact he was not heir to Avalon, Daemon relented to his wife's wishes. In his youth he could be described as somewhat cheerful and carefree compared to his stern and serious sister. This stemmed from the fact that he lacked the same degree of responsibility

William always felt a connection to the magical heritage of his family and delved into his family's old tomes on Magic he learned when his grandfather had decided to teach him further on high mysteries. By this point in his life his relationships with his family had been somewhat soured, this was further soured when he fought Ironborn at a very young age. That incident had affected him in ways he did not realize, he had become more melancholic and distant.

By the time he was four and ten to him it seemed as if his did not care what happened to him and began planning on leaving Avalon. his Original intention was to leave and never come back, only to be dissuaded when his Grandfather Aelyx had confronted him. It is not known what was said only that William promised to return and Aelyx had granted him a ship to take on his journey. Right before he departed he was confronted by his father's sworn Knight Ser Arthur Dayne and his cousin Howland Reed. Both had tried to persuade him form leaving, only for a girl to come galloping down the road. The girl never gave her name but she told William of her plight and pleaded with him to take her with him to Essos.

Feeling pity he agreed to take her with him, Ser Arthur fearing for his safety joined with him. He returned several months later with tomes and treasures from the ruined city ( and returned to vicious dressing down from his mother and sister). After his return William would drop off the face of the Earth and went missing. No one knew where he went and when he returned he never spoke of it, the only thing he came back with was a chain of some sort. Six months later he returned and at the insistence of his parents, William studied politics, strategy and lordship as his father intended for to take up command of Moat Cailin.

During the Tourney at Harrenhal William dressed up as a knight to avenge his cousin after he had been attacked by several squires. Shortly after the Tourney he and Lyanna Stark were wed.

During the Battle of the Trident, William was reported to have gone mad with rage when he saw Rhaegar Targaryen. He made several attempts to reach and kill the crown prince, only to be blocked by the Kingsguard. A number of soldiers witnessed as he slew, Oswell Whent, Jonothor Darry and the Lord Commander Gerold Hightower. Jonothor had managed to run William through the side with his sword, despite this William kept on fighting. His injuries would became too much by the time he killed Gerold Hightower and he was carried off the field by Lyanna Stark, who disguised herself as a knight to blend in with the Avalon Legion.

With the death of father his demeanor changed. He projected a colder and detached face when around others, only dropping said face when he was among family and close friends.

* * *

Quotes about him

 _"He never raised his voice. That made it more terrifying and yet I remember what he said, no different than the mad king. "Burn them_ all _" he said, and unlike the mad king when he said it, his men were cheering as wildfire consumed the_ ironborn _castles_ " - Ser Jaime Lannister during the Ironborn Rebellion

 _"If I had met him before hearing the stories surrounding him I would have never realized how dangerous he really was. Unlike his sister, when he got angry it was more terrifying. his sister would immediately lash out and destroy whatever angered her. He, on the other hand, would sit back and patiently wait for an opportunity to strike and utterly ruin those who had angered him"_ \- Tyrion Lannister when asked for his opinion on William Aurion

 _" I tried to wrap my head around it, how could a man gladly commit those horrible acts upon his enemies? and then I saw it, the cold look on his face softening ever so slightly upon seeing his wife and children, the slight smile and I realized at that moment: Woe to those who hurt his family, and may the Seven have mercy on them for he will show none"_ \- Willas Tyrell upon looking at William Aurion and his family

 _"When you looked him the eyes it did not feel like you were looking into the eyes of a man. No, it felt like you were looking into the eyes of a predator at rest"_ \- Varys

* * *

 **Author's comments**

 **One problem I face is properly describing both of them as well as other key points in a narrative fashion so I'll write about these things in a less narrative fashion in this section.**

The Original Characters

Elaena is the Statesman/politician of the two, better suited to civic responsibilities when compared to her brother. William is the soldier of the two and he is better suited as commander during wartime. Both siblings can do the other ones job and tend to only come second in those regards to each other (William can handle civic responsibilities but Elaena is better at it compared to him. Elaena can conduct a proper military campaign but William is better than her in that regard).

Before the rebellion, Elaena was be described as stoic and cold it was only after the death of her father and the rebellion that she started acting emotive, whereas William is the opposite, going from a carefree and cheerful demeanor to a serious demeanor after the death of his Father. In his case its a realization that he has to act in a mature manner because he now has significant responsibilities to his people and his family, whereas with Elaena its a realization that she should be showing more benevolence to her people and affection to her family than she had been doing in the past.

William is a character with many faces some might not be shown during the planned fanfic. On one hand everyone that's not from the Avalon or the North or has friendly relations with those kingdoms tend to see the colder side of his character and his more darker reputation, this tends to apply to most of the southern nobility, they also tend to be on the receiving end of his more ruthless actions and the Nobles tend to dislike him. His family, friends and subjects on the other hand, see him as a benevolent lord and skilled warrior and strategist who will do whatever it takes to protect them. The Aurions have a reputation in Avalon like the canon Starks have in the North, in the sense that they have loyalty and respect of nobles and commoners of Avalon. To his family, he is a stern but caring father, to others, he shows a polite yet indifferent face.

William himself is incapable of skinchanging or warging, in fact his ability to "talk" to them is a sort-of compensation for his inability to warg. His ability to communicate with animals is actually is a combination of his capability in using magic and his heritage tied to the First-men. (who are known for having skinchangers and greenseers), mind you this isn't perfect. William can easily communicate with the hounds that his family breed and due to their enhanced intelligence they can follow his orders with ease, but talking to wild animals (read: shadowcats, bears, stags.) is doable but much more difficult for him.

If I had to describe inspirations I would say that Elaena is an amalgamation of two HBO Rome characters: Servilia and Octavian in that she tries to use subtlety like Servilia and Like Octavian is highly intelligent and has a positive image among the Northerners. Whereas I drew a some inspiration for William on Karl Franz from Warhammer Fantasy in that he is one of the better generals that the Eight kingdoms have and works tirelessly to protect Avalon from outside threats.

Elaena cannot use magic like William does, but she is very skilled in defensive based magics (read: Blood magic wards), and she is knowledgeable on other magics due to their ancestor's obsession with defending themselves against any and all threats in which magic wielders from the Shadowlands, Rhoynish water magics and more

* * *

Internal Stability

One thing that might be bothersome to some readers is that they won't face the same civil strife like the other kingdoms may face. After the fighting died down House Aurion aided the noble houses under their rule. This is the result of bringing prosperity of their vassals and more of them surviving winter. The nobles realized that by staying under their rule they would prosper even more and are not inclined to go turncoat, added to the fact that in over a number of generations these houses did marry into House Aurion. The fact that for a time they had a number of enemies on the outside (Ironborn, southern kingdoms, Faith of the Seven, wildlings, etc) and in some cases they still do have enemies has resulted in little to no animosity between House Aurion and their vassals. The only potential betrayers could have been House Belaerys as they are also a Valyrian House and had not married into House Aurion at the time, but that ended when Elaena married their son Aemon and they had a child. While they are upset that they won't have as much influence over the Aurion siblings with the death of Aemon, it's still a child from their family that will become the next Warden of Avalon as such they're not particularly inclined to usurp power.

This isn't to say that they won't face any issues there are a few individuals in Avalon with influence that chafe under their rule. After all, House Aurion made a number of enemies in the South and they'd be more than willing to take advantage of that...

 **TL:DR** House Aurion maintained the approval of the people and the nobles in Avalon. By helping them survive winters and grow prosperous earned their loyalty which is hard to break due to a degree of distrusting outside influence.

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Character Bio end

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Order of the Scholars (cont'd)

The scholars were keepers of knowledge gathering as much information as they could. Unlike their cousins in the south who abhorred magic, the Order kept all pertinent information even when it seemed that magic was gone. The Order also maintained public libraries throughout Avalon that anyone could access their books. With the creation of the printing press by the Guild of engineers, some of the more rarer texts that were kept from the libraries due to their one-of-a-kind status started appearing in their libraries. Due to their somewhat unfriendly relations with the Maesters, a scholar south of the neck was a rare site.

The Scholars had many responsibilities, in Avalon they took on the duties that maesters had for the noble houses. In some cases, Northern houses preferred the services of the Scholars over the Maesters, House Mormont and Glover had Scholars instead ofMaesters on the other hand House Stark had both amaester and a scholar. Reading and writing was a skill that was originally rarely seen amongst commoners. The men who joined the Legion were educated in letters however at the time most of the commoners were not given this sort of education, this led to the Order assuming a new responsibility the education of the commoners. With the support of the noble houses, schools were built throughout Avalon. These schools were established a few years after Aegon's conquest the time of the rebellion eight of ten commoners knew how to read and write.

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Household Guard and Militia

 _"Seven Hells! we're outnumbered five to one and they're talking about how it looks like a good day!"_ \- Lord Robert Baratheon. Talking about William Aurion's Household Troops before the final battle at Summerhall, he proceeded to refer to them as the "Dauntless" after their victory

While House Aurion does maintain an army to fight for Avalon, both they and the noble houses possess their own personal forces. These Household guards act as a private army that may fulfill roles other than soldiers, in some cases they act as messengers or patrol the areas outside of their liege lords castles and towns. One such notable force was the Household Guard under William Aurion, who participated in the rebellion as an elite force of soldiers. They come from all walks of life, from nobles and knights trying to make a name for themselves and hoping to be granted land after years of service, to veteran legionaries who served the entirety of their years and wished to continue serving to even militia from an incident long past.

After the battles at Summerhall Robert Baratheon referred to William's Household troops as the Dauntless, a name that stuck with them. These men had a tendency to remain unfazed when confronted with any threat as well showing their skill and ferocity in battle. Despite the peacetime these men have kept their skills sharp by training and hunting bandits around Moat Cailin, waiting for the day their lord calls them to battle once more...

Another example of household troops would be the Blackguard of New Valyria. These men and women are under the command of the Warden of Avalon. Like the Dauntless they act as elite soldiers, but their main purpose is to protect the warden alongside a group of Dragonguard Knights. Other duties include acting as the Wardens personal messengers or assuming command of an army if the Warden orders a lord to stand down and surrender authority.

Despite the usage of Household troops, they lack the numbers to be everywhere at once and they are usually there to fight for the interest of the nobles. During wartime, these men cannot fulfill their usual duties. As such there are other organized groups that fulfill similar duties, in this case, the Militia. The Militia is composed of commoners who do not wish to join the Legion but nonetheless wish to protect their homes. Most of the time the militia is tasked with patrolling the roads around Avalon. In some cases they garrison the smaller holdfasts and the small forts that House Aurion built to act as barracks for the more remote areas. The Men in charge of the Militia tend to be retired legionaries, with the commanders being recruited from Legion officers who served the entirety of the fifteen years of service

While it has never happened, the militia have been given the training to act as professional soldiers if House Aurion needs additional manpower during their campaigns and a fair number of the men who joined after the Rebellion were veteran legionaries who chose to be discharged, however, this is only done as desperation or a last resort, it has only been done once when the First Andal Crusade occurred and had never been done after.

* * *

 **Yeah I'm not feeling too well at the time of this writing, sorry about the length**

 **Forgot to mention this, While House Aurion does not practice dynastic incest it has married members of other noble families before in the sense that Elaena's husband isn't the first member of House Belaerys to marry into the House. Every couple of generations a member of house Belaerys or one of the other houses is wed to a member of House Aurion and they would consider another marriage a few generations down the line ( about three of four) and even then they(House Aurion) would still have reservations.**

 **Not sure if the name William falls under Andalos or First men.**

 **House Reed doesn't have an extended family tree hence why I chose them as the relations to the OC's, in this case, Howland Reed's Aunt who is (obviously) an OC. House Aurion has a larger family, I just have not mentioned them yet and admittedly I don't have plans to expand on them immediately but do know that they do exist.**

 **Right now, and I'm not sure if it's a good idea but I'm thinking of pairing Lyanna Stark with William, now this is because of a number of reasons: first I think that House Stark and Aurion may want to unify their houses/ strengthen relations, In the AU I've created I doubt Rickard would maintain the betrothal with Robert if Lyanna insisted on not marrying him, Thirdly the Aurions are Valyrian which technically allows Jon Snow to exist as I will say it now Lyanna does not go with Rhaegar.**

 **If i do pair someone in this fic the romance aspect will be minimal, sorry to those who like that part of a fic, but i don't think i could write a good romance when i have my not so great romantic life as a reference.**

 **If I do go with this idea I will add on to these Biographies.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Apologies for the long wait, real life happened causing a few delays in what should have been released a week ago at the very least.**

 **The moment when you realize you screwed up a stealth revision of a chapter... long story short i edited chapter 6 and accidently replaced it with chapter 7, this has been rectified**

 **Occurred to me that I still refer to the event as Robert's Rebellion, this is a case of in-universe editing, as far as most of the Southern Kingdoms and Maesters are concerned Robert was the leader of the Rebellion and as such the war could be attributed to him hence "Robert's Rebellion" but privately the Rebels (and in some cases the King himself) refer to it as the "Aurion Revolt" or the "Rebellion of the Eighth Kingdom" due to how House Aurion was the one that took the most offences.**

 **Yes i'm introducing more OC's mostly to flesh out the Eighth kingdom's roster for a lack of a better term, as the Siblings cant be everywhere at once .**

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Asha Greyjoy

Age: 18

Title: Captain of the _Stalwart,_

Affiliation: Avalon, House Aurion (ward)

Flaw:

Lack of confidence when confronted by her actual family

favors a confrontational attitude when dealing with others

Family: Balon Greyjoy (Father), Allanys Harlaw (Mother), Theon Greyjoy (brother), Yara Greyjoy (sister), Victarion Greyjoy (Uncle), Euron Greyjoy (Uncle)

Notable facts

\- Youngest captain in the Avalon Navy

\- aided in the designs of new warships for the navy

\- was part of William Aurion's third expedition into old Valyria

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Quotes about her

"Was that really necessary? Couldn't you have just knocked him out?" - Jason Tallhart, upon Asha attacking a member of the Golden Company for making unwanted advances on her during their trip to Pentos

"She is a Captain in Avalon's Navy, she earned that rank on her own merits and you will respect her or earn the ire of your peers" - Lord William Aurion, upon hearing a new naval recruit belittle her while he was inspecting the Navy

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Bio

After the Ironborn Rebellion was suppressed, two children of House Greyjoy were taken as Wards. The Heir to the Iron Isles, Theon Greyjoy was taken to the North and the youngest child Asha was taken as a ward by House Aurion. Originally she lived with Elaena Aurion, but that had ended when her responsibilites left her incapable of taking care of her as such she sent him to her brother William.

Despite his dislike for most things related to the Ironborn, William raised Asha as best as he could, and over time started to view her as if she was his own child. During her time in Moat Cailin, she received a formal education as well as sticking to her roots by learning how to sail a ship.

By the age four and ten she convinced Lady Aurion to allow her to join the Navy. She rose through the ranks rather quickly relying on nothing more than her skills. three years later she had earned the respect of her peers as well as rose to the rank of Captain, allowing her to command her own ship.

Other contributions to Avalon's navy include upgrades and designs of new warships including a ship with the speed and size of a longship and the fire power of a galley this ship would be referred to as a "brig".

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Jason Tallhart

Age: 16

Titles: Ser, Castellan of Ironhold

Affiliation: Avalon, House Aurion, House Tallhart of Ironhold

Flaw:

blunt (comes across as rude to most)

Family: Jaime Lannister (Father, Jason is unaware of this just as Jaime is unware of him) Alysanne Tallhart (mother)

Physical Appearance, Brown of Hair, Emerald green eyes (Armor aesthetic: Google "Roger Reyne" first and second result for reference)

Notable facts

-Squired under Arthur Dayne

\- Knighted at the age of six and ten

\- typically acts as a bodyguard to Elaena Aurion when she's not accompanied by Blackguard

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Quotes about him

 _"Not sure if we would have come off as well as we did if he weren't there"_ \- Jon Aurion on Jason Tallhart during encounter with the House of the Unduing during their trip to Qarth

" He would be much more desirable if he lost that barbed tongue of his" - Asha Greyjoy discussing Jason with Rhaena Aurion (daughter of Elaena)

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Bio

Jason was born to Alysanne Tallhart. House Tallhart of Ironhold had lost it's head of house and heirs during the Rebellion at the Battle of Ashford. The only surviving member of the main family was Alysanne. House Tallhart of Laenor's Square tried to push for ownership of Ironhold, Unfortunately for them, Lady Elaena refused to accept their claims. Alysanne returned from king's landing pregnant thus providing a heir. Due to her refusal to reveal the identity of his father, Jason was originally labeled a bastard. After Alysanne had revealed the identity of his father to Lady Aurion, Elaena had him legitimized and sent a message to King Robert who proceeded to send a royal decree in hopes of currying more favor to House Aurion.

Jason's Childhood was largely uneventful, he learned what needed to fulfill the role of Lord to take his mother's place. When he was much younger he wished to be a knight, mostly due to the stories of chivalry that his mother would tell him. Eventually, he fostered at Moat Cailin. While there he befriended William's son Jon as well as his ward Asha Greyjoy. As the years went on these three would become as thick as thieves. Usually, Jason was the one who had to rescue them from whatever situation the other two had gotten themselves into.

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The incident at the Citadel

Years before the Rebellion, Daemon Aurion visited the Citadel. As a gesture of goodwill Daemon allowed a Maester to be brought on as an advisor in Avalon. Said maester attempted to take sensitive documents and send them back to the Citadel, Unfortunately for the Maester, House Reed intercepted the ravens and informed Daemon. He let him off with a warning. Months later he catches him in an attempt at poisoning his children after an incident with the glass candles.

Furious, Daemon had him tortured for every single piece of information he knew. Daemon then dragged him to the citadel and killed him before the grand maesters. He then declared that no Maester would enter the halls of Avalon's nobles. While this was happening two youths had stolen into the Citadel with several intentions , unfortunately, they were not able to find what they needed and they were forced to flee when a guard found them and raised the alarm, only to run into Daemon himself as he was leaving. At this point, Daemon decided to take the two youths with him as he left.

After their departure he found out that they were Arthur and Ashara Dayne from House Dayne of Starfall. With the Citadel looking for them and not feeling inclined in aiding them Daemon took them to Starfall, after talking their brother who recent took the mantle after the death of the previous lord, he took both of them to Avalon. Arthur left for a time and opted to travel essos. After a a few years he returned and took on the role of master-at-arms of New Valyria and served as such for a time before settling in Avalon, Daemon granted him lordship of Stony Shore. Arthur then buillt a keep at Stony shore establishing House Dayne of Stony Shore. While Ashara would stay at New Valyria, acting as a handmaiden for Daemon's wife Shyra as well as a companion for their daughter Elaena.

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Relations with the other Kingdoms

 _"An enigma to be sure, on one hand, most if not all of the noble houses in that region that praise them and considered them benevolent rulers. On the other hand, we have a number of Nobles outside of their kingdom who vilify them, calling them monsters and nobles without honor. Barring their reputation, and the brutal tactics their soldiers favor in battle, we know very little of the eighth kingdom..." -_ Lord Varys, discussing the rulers of Avalon with Lord Baelish

 _"All of a sudden, I'm reminded of why I prefer to stay home"_ \- Lady Elaena Aurion upon meeting Lord Varys and Baelish during her brief visit to King's landing

While House Aurion did stay in a state of pseudo-isolation with the rest of Westeros bar the North for a long time, this did not mean that they did not interact with the other kingdoms. The most obvious interaction would be that of them and the Ironborn. To the Ironborn the lands of House Aurion seemed rich added to the fact that they always faced fierce resistance, further enforced the idea that they should try to continue attempts at raiding Avalon. The Raids only stopped after the Ironborn Rebellion where House Aurion took the fight to the Ironborn.

The Starks and Aurions had always been close allies, this is also reflected by the number of marriages between their vassals. Houses Mormont and Glover have a friendly relationship with House Aurion, due to the fact that Avalon's fleet has reduced the number of Ironborn raids on their lands. House Ryswell sells horses to the Northern lords, House Aurion and Belaerys both export food to the North at low prices during the winter. Despite being foreigners who are distantly related to the Targaryens, House Aurion is highly regarded by their Northern neighbors, this is the result of a number of generations of House Aurion living there and understanding how harsh winter can get compared to the southerners

After the end of Robert's Rebellion, At the request of the new king, House Aurion attempted to establish more friendly ties with the other kingdoms. This had mixed results.

The Reach, more specifically House Tyrell had a fair amount of resentment aimed towards house Aurion due to the fact that they managed to grow a significant surplus of crops that they then proceeded to sell at a price much lower than the reach lords would charge. This resulted in lower profits and add to the fact that they lived in a frozen region and never purchased anything from them further fueled their dislike. During the rebellion House Aurion gained the respect of House Tarly, were it not for the presence of William Aurion at Ashford, Tarly would have inflicted even more casualties than they had lost during the battle and it might have cost Robert the war.

The Westerlands was a simple matter. The Kings of the Rock were the ones who spearheaded the armies of the faith during their crusades and as such Relations between House Lannister and House Aurion were borderline hostile. However due to their lack of interaction for a long period of time the tensions were reduced significantly.

The Riverlands were a more complicated matter. House Aurion actually had friendly ties with two houses long before the rebellion. The Mallisters at Seaguard had friendly ties with House Aurion. One reason was that they let the House Aurion travel through their lands unmolested during House Aurions original journey. as well as their mutual dislike for the Ironborn, these ties were strong enough that they able to purchase from Weapons and Armor made from Avalon Steel, as well as purchase food for a significantly lower price. Another House with friendly relations with them was House Blackwood. House Blackwood had allowed House Aurion to stay in their halls for a brief time during their journey North. House Aurion was grateful enough that when they had finished establishing Avalon they opened trade relations as well as arranged marriage between their houses on several occasions. House Targaryen attempted to establish a firmer grip on House Aurion using House Blackwood due to their ties with them, however all of the attempts to do so ended in failure.

House Frey has a hostile relationship with House Aurion. When the Laenor Aurion and the Silver Legion reached the Twins, House Frey demanded a toll. House Aurion was willing to pay until they attempted to claim Rhaenyra as part of the toll. Incensed, Laenor besieged and burnt down most of the Twins. Leaving the bridge intact and sparing the surviving members of House Frey. Another house that had issues with them was House Tully. More specifically there were issues with Hoster Tully, there were severals instances where Lord Tully offended Daemon Aurion, which naturally soured relations between them, this animosity carried on between the lord and the Aurion siblings when he insulted their deceased father. However, they did not have issues with the rest of the family.

Relations with Dorne were cordial if not frosty. The Martells were upset at the deaths of Lewyn and Elia, but also understood why House Aurion acted as they did during the Rebellion and did not blame them for the death of Lewyn.

Overall relations with the Stormlands were good for a fairly long period of time. Mostly due to the fact that the Legions actions in the Reach forced the Tyrell host to leave their lands.

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 **TL:DR of Relations before War/GoT**

North: Friendly/ Allies, due to being neighbors and recent marriage between houses

Iron Islands: Hostile, due to constant attempts at raiding in the past

Reach: Disliked, due to them losing profit from a lack of exports as well as Elaena and William's actions during the rebellion

Westerlands: Neutral, due to lack of interaction but leaning towards dislike due to recent events

Vale: Disliked, due to their methods of war and arguments between the Aurions and Lord Arryn

Dorne: Cold/ Neutral, due to the Death of Lewyn Martell

Riverlands: Mixed, some house like them other houses don't

Iron Throne/ Crownlands: Friendly, Due to Elaena's and William's friendship with King Robert, House Aurion is somewhat inclined to listen to his requests.

Stormlands: Friendly due to actions during the rebellion

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"Robert's Rebellion" The Military Campaign in the Reach

 _"Either my brother is a genius when it comes to warfare or Lord Tyrell is a complete idiot. Or it's a case of both being somewhat correct."_ \- Lady Elaena Aurion reflecting on the strategy that she and her brother came up with in the aftermath of the Rebellion

" _Their campaign in the Reach was nothing more than a reminder of how dangerous they really are, something everyone else seems to have forgotten" -_ Lord Tywin Lannister

After the Battle of the bells, Elaena and William deliberated on the next course of action. After a day of planning they marched their host of forty thousand towards the Reach. The main reason for this decision was because news had reached them that twenty thousand of the Reach Army was heading towards King's Landing. The rebels did not want the rest of the Tyrell host linking up with the next royal army that would eventually be formed to wipe out the rebels. Their main objectives were to lift the siege of Storm's end while ensuring the Tyrell Host could not do anything to affect the outcome of the War.

Leaving a single Legion under the command of Arthur Dayne with Robert Baratheon , Elaena led an assault on Bitterbridge and opted to burn it down. While her brother marched on and destroyed Longtable. The news of these attacks reached the Tyrell host and they assumed that the Aurion's were planning on assaulting Highgarden. Lord Tyrell ordered Randyll Tarly to continue the siege on Storm's End while he took half of their army and led it back home.

When the Tyrell host crossed the River Mander and retook Bitterbridge with no resistance, they grew overconfident. They were then attacked an all sides by smaller raiding parties. Ignoring this the host pushed forward, all while their numbers were slowly being grounded down and scattered by the hit and run attacks of the legion auxiliaries and knights. By the time The host reaches Highgarden, the legion had already established a fortified position with siege weapons being built.

Panicking, Lord Tyrell sends orders for Lord Tarly to lift the siege and come to their aid. Lord Tarly and his host of forty thousand lift the siege of Storm's end and manage to reach the river Mander only to be blocked by a host eight thousand led by William. Due to the bottleneck that was the crossing of the Mander and William's extensive usage of hand ballista, catapults and wildfire, Lord Tarly is forced to retreat due to severe casualties his army took and looks for an alternative path to Highgarden.

Meanwhile, the Tyrell host clashes with the legion near Highgarden. Elaena arranges her troops into formations and waits for the Tyrell's advance. The Tyrell scouts noticed the lack of numbers present in Elaena's camp, this was due to the fact that Elaena had split and hidden half of her army in the forest in order to envelop whoever attacks them. Upon realizing that with the local garrison and reinforcements from nearby minor nobles they outnumbered the legionaries two to one, the Tyrells launched an assault, splitting their forces to attack the smaller groups.

For the Reachmen it was a disaster, despite being outnumbered the legionaries fended of assault after assault. The legionaries were able to support each other using ranged weaponry allowing the smaller groups to crush the advancing soldiers. The turning point was when the Tyrell host had commited all of its soldiers into the assault, the other half of the Legions emerged and maneuvered into the rear flank and attacked. Losing heart, the Tyrell host shatters and flees, Due to their numbers a fair number of soldiers manage to flee from the battle. Under her command, the Legion runs down a large number of fleeing soldiers and took no prisoners, Elaena the orders her troops to besiege Highgarden.

However, after two days she is forced to lift her siege as Randyll Tarly manages to find another way to cross the Mander and rallies a number of fleeing Tyrell soldiers. With no intention of engaging in a second battle Elaena withdraws. With their main objective complete Elaena marches northwards towards Goldengrove and Links up with her brother.

The Damage is done, the majority Tyrell host is rendered incapable of marching to the aid of House Targaryen, They need to regroup and reorganize and marching to the aid of the new royal army was impossible as Elaena and the Legions had not left the Reach. The Siege of Storm's end was lifted. William reunites with his sister and decides to leave his infantry with her so she can continue the campaign in the Reach. He then takes two thousand riders towards the Trident...

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Post-Rebellion endeavors

While Avalon's Legions suffered the least amount of casualties during the rebellion it still numbered in the thousands, the Military commanders and Vassal lords approached and requested House Aurion to examine and restructure the Legions. In most of the post-battle reports, it was noted that the enemy was able to outmaneuver and flank the Legionaries. This flaw became more noticeable when during the battle at Ashford where the Reach Lord knights were able to outmaneuver and disrupt the infantry formations. As such a number of units were trained in skirmishing tactics as well as out of formation fighting. While wearing less armor these men were able to maneuver faster and were more than capable of holding the battle line despite the loss of protection. This variation of legion infantry saw a growth in numbers due to the ease of manufacturing their armor. This didn't mean that they abandoned the concept of the classical heavy infantry, in fact, most legions at the very minimum possess four units of classical heavy infantry. However, most of the modern day legionaries favor mobility over protection.

Due to the war, they lost a number of warhorses and needed to replenish their losses. With the favor of the King, Elaena was able to purchase several herds of destriers, coursers, and palfreys from the South without being cheated. She then gave most of the herds to House Ryswell in order to have them both trained as proper warhorses and have them bred so they did not have to purchase a large amount of horses from elsewhere again. Years later, House Ryswell would be one of the largest breeders and suppliers of Warhorses to both Avalon as well as the North.

The Military was not the only thing that saw changes after the rebellion, as mentioned previously House Aurion built a series of forts around Avalon when they first settled the region. Over time these forts were torn down and replaced or in some cases fortified even further. The original road system was inspected, new roads were built and older roads were expanded. Lady Aurion redoubled efforts on establishing trade ties with the east, her efforts resulted in new deals with Volantes and Lys. William Aurion made another expedition to Old Valyria with his sister in tow. When they reached the ruined city he found House Aurion's old spire. While mostly destroyed externally, the inside was a different matter.

When Laenor departed from Valyria with his family, he did not take everything and left a modest amount of wealth, books and artifacts that would be considered priceless centuries later. Despite their eccentricities, the other dragonlords were aware of the wealth House Aurion possessed, while not the richest in terms of gold they possessed many texts and artifacts that were magical in nature as well as a small number of Valyrian steel-forged weapons and armor. Many were aware of this, and a few of the minor houses sought to seize it for themselves after their departure. Unfortunately for them, the political allies of House Aurion blocked all requests and had it sealed, convinced that House Aurion would eventually return to the Freehold.

While they could not ascend the spire, The siblings found the personal library, vaults, and armory relatively untouched aside from the damage caused by the passage of time. after a month of work, they were able to load everything they could find and destroy what they could not take with them and returned home.

* * *

 **Author comments: another informal info dump**

This is hopefully the last time i make this section.

For the record, this is not the same Asha from the books. I just used her name and she's basically an OC. She is intended to be a composite of Yara and Theon. A sort of in-between. She has more or less adjusted to a different lifestyle like Theon, However, she still maintains a connection with her heritage via her capabilities as a sailor and her role as captain in the navy much like how Yara is closer with her Ironborn heritage, being groomed as Balon's heir, and captaining a ship.

Jason was actually a prototype character for a differently planned fanfic that I scrapped due to my inability to make it consistent, not sure if there are fanfics with an illegitimate son of Jaime Lannister and admittedly he was an idea that would not leave my head so here he is. I haven't mentioned it but he was conceived during an encounter between Jaime and Alysanne shortly after Robert and Cersei's wedding and coronation.

Daemon Aurion is admittedly a plot device for a number of things, while i don't plan on making a bio for him as hes long dead, Long story short thanks to the fact that it's a time of peace, Daemon made several attempts to establish friendly relations with the Southern Kingdoms, beginning with the learned men, the maesters. Obviously these overtures are not successful, though his children do make attempts to keep up his intentions with them getting varying results.

I decided to use Arthur and Ashara because a small part of me likes the characters and to some small degree I do feel sorry for how everything turned out for them in canon, and at the same time William and Elaena are not superhuman administrator's and generals, they need to have advisors and allies around them, So the Dayne siblings are part of a growing Roster of characters that are a part of Avalon that I will add onto as time goes on they're just the first of many, other examples would be Willam Dustin or Mark Ryswell who are both alive, Willam being Lord of Barrowton for House Aurion and Mark being a member of the Dragonguard.

* * *

 **The entry about House Dayne is mostly due to the large plot hole that is battle at the Tower of Joy, which doesn't happen in this AU which would leave some characters floundering, in this case Gerold Hightower and Oswell Whent are both present at the battle of the Trident .**

 **for the lighter armored legionaries google "antesignani" for the concept**

 **I searched for the breeds of horses in ASoIaF and those names did come up on the list of breeds**

 **For the record I know that a Royal decree is needed for legitimization, however, do you really think House Aurion cares about something like that? As far as they're concerned they can legitimize whoever they wish if their vassals desire it.**

 **On a final note soon I'm going to be publishing a series of Snippets and One-shots of Game of thrones/ASoIaF plot bunnies as well as a Narrative for some of the events mentioned in Records.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Updated as of October 28th 2018**

 **When I say modern day, I mean post-roberts rebellion**

 **Daemon Aurion is kind of based off of Klaus Wulfenbach from _Girl Genius_ in the sense that he was very skilled at both the political scene as well as finding the right people for the right job and his children benefit from that immensely.**

 **For the record a legion in this fic is approximately 5,000 soldiers on average give or take, so House Aurion has approximately 12 legions with 4 of them being active while the rest are on reserve/inactive.**

 **There are minor houses in Avalon nobility, but i wont get into that.**

Avaloni Society

 _"Our ancestors never truly appreciated the fires of the hearth nor the roofs over their heads, not until they settled in the North, then they started to appreciate those things"_ \- William Aurion, teaching his son about House Aurion and Avalon

 _"Our sworn liege cannot defend everywhere at once, its why our ancestor's often learned how to defend themselves, it is why you will be learning how to defend yourself."_ \- Commoner speaking to his child

 _"Hah! they're nothing but flea-bitten mongr-" -_ A Westerlander Knight on the Mabari, he and those with him were nearly lynched by the aggravated knights and soldiers, it is said that Lady Aurion had rewarded them with coin for their actions.

Most of the inhabitants of the North descend from the First men. This is no different in Avalon, While a fairly large portion of the population can claim descent from the Valyrians who followed House Aurion to Westeros, they can also trace their heritage to that of the first men. As such some of the physical attributes of the average person vary, Hair is typically dark and in some rare cases white Silver, which is a more common trait amongst the Aurions and Belaerys. Eyes also vary, it can range from brown to the violet purple that the Valyrians are well known for.

The land they live in is cold and harsh. Large cities, towns and well-provisioned villages do not change that fact of life. As such the inhabitants of Avalon tend to be hardier than most bar the Northerners, whose territory could be considered harsher due to its closer proximity to the Lands of Always Winter. Despite the existence of major settlements, there was still a fairly large number of smallfolk who lived in small towns and villages that sprung up due to the construction of the roads, most of these smaller villages would be found nearby these roads. In the beginning, there was a degree of cultural divide amongst the people of Avalon, after all the newcomers were foreigners with a different language and a different culture.

In the more rural regions of Avalon like the Wolfswood, the most common method of acquiring food was hunting. As such most of the smallfolk that inhabited that region had a degree of training in the use of the bow. These bows would vary from the traditional longbow to the composite bows that were imported from Essos and in rare cases Dorne. In the regions where the cities were nearby, some would acquire and use crossbows for hunting instead. The result of this was that impromptu units of Archers and Crossbowmen were fairly easy to form for new legions. In fact most militia in the rural areas would carry their hunting bows as well as their standard armament of boar spear and shield.

One thing the Aurion's brought with them was a breed of canine known as the Mabari. These Large mastiff-like hounds were used against them back when the Valyrians were nomadic tribals. After defeating a rival tribe that brought them a number of packs went feral, the Aurions opted to capture and and make attempts to tame them. At first capturing them was easy, but over time the strays started outsmarting their hunters. Intrigued, this further fueled the intent on capturing them. After capturing as many as they could the Aurions set about to training them, only to find out that they were fast learners and could understand complex commands. The Mabari were extremely loyal to their owners, it was not uncommon for a Mabari to hunt down whatever killed their master before returning to join them. The Mabari were mostly used as hunting and guard dogs, at first they were never used as wardogs. That would last until a pack of Mabari ripped through a unit of Ghiscari Legionnaires with relative ease.

Most of the Dragonlords of old scoffed at the idea of using these hounds, mostly due to the fact that they possessed dragons. After all what use is a hound over a dragon? But the Aurions would ignore them, to them, the Mabari were an asset that could be used in both wartime and peacetime. The Aurions of old even went as far as to enhancing them using magic, increasing their longevity and intelligence. When they settled in the North, they brought a large number of Mabari hounds with them, a fair number died due to the harshness of the weather but most adapted to their new homes.

Modern day Mabari are usually owned by the Aurions, however over the centuries these hounds have been spread out to the rest of Avalon creating a variety of different breeds, it is even rumoured that Rhaenyra Aurion tried to crossbreed Mabari with Direwolves, however aside their naturally large size there is very little evidence that this claim possessed any veracity. Their First-men subjects were very fond of these hounds, mostly due to their capabilities, intelligence as well as their loyalty to their owners. They fulfill many roles, hunter, trackers, herding and guarding with a few of the legion Auxiliaries taking them with them to battle. The modern-day inhabitants of Avalon hold their canines in such high regards that their Northern cousins often quip that if you wish to declare war on Avalon all you had to do insult their dogs.

Bastardy is mostly ignored, in the sense that small folk does not care and only a handful of noble families cared about the circumstances of their births. Many bastards become knights or take up a craft such as carpentry or blacksmithing or even answer the call to agriculture.

Both Valyrian and Old-tongue are common languages among the locals, by the time of the conquest the languages have meshed together. This language would take words from both old-tongue and High-Valyrian. It was never given a formal name and in Avalon, it was simply referred to as local tongue. This was due to the fact that common-tongue had gained prevalence in the North after the conquest, But the Maesters would refer to the Local-tongue as a variation of Bastard Valyrian

One of the more notable facets of life amongst the commoners is the blooding ceremony. The Blooding ceremony is a coming of age ceremony, where a youth becomes an adult. The youth in question hunts an animal with bow or spear, they then bring the animal home, skin and cook it and then eat it, the ceremony is concluded by entering the local godswood and slitting the palm of ones hand and letting the blood flow onto the Weirwood. The significance of the ceremony was to prove that the youth could become providers for their families, As hunting was the most common method of obtaining meat in the rural regions the blooding ceremony was meant to prove that yes they can and will provide for their family and for the family they will have in the future .This tradition is seen amongst the nobles as well, most if not all of them have performed this ceremony.

As a whole, Avalon is a fairly militant society. Constant Pirate raids and centuries of attempted invasions from the South resulted in those who live there developing a more martial mindset. Majority of the youths are given basic training on the use of a spear courtesy of the local Militia with a fair number of these youths joining them for a time, some move on and join the local lords garrison. It was considered strange by others if a Northerner did not know how to use a weapon. Most if not all of the Noble Houses maintain a small force of troops that can be mobilized on a moment's notice, with House Aurion boasting the largest of these forces.

* * *

Trade and Relations outside of Westeros

Avalon rarely if ever exported goods to the southern kingdoms, it took the request of Robert Baratheon for them to start any form of exports to the South. House Stark was able to export a variety of goods from Avalon, but in most cases, they've only imported extra food for the winter.

Outside of the kingdoms was a different story, the first and most notable trade partner was Braavos. Braavos and the founding house of Avalon had an interesting history. Laenor's grandfather Matarys Aurion was sent to intercept a number of slave transports. These slaves had managed to kill their wardens and commandeer the ships. While most of the members of House Aurion found slavery to be detestable. They could not stop their peers from exploiting it.

It may have been for this reason that Braavos came to be. As Matarys and a few other dragonlords figured that the slaves would not head to Sothoryos as that was both the intended destination as well as that where the most of the other Dragonlords would have searched. As such he volunteered to sail in the opposite direction, northwest. He eventually came across a lagoon and series of islands, as well as the runaway slaves.

Matarys observed the free slaves for a few days before departing and returning home, When he returned to the freehold he went to the other dragonlords and claimed he could not find them and the other dragonlords could not find any signs of the escaped slaves, and so the slaves were considered lost. Meanwhile, the freed slaves were in a panic as they saw the ships with Aurion banners departing, What scared the the most was that Matarys was infamous for putting down a slave revolt and that the ships they had taken were in fact loaned to the other dragonlords by House Aurion. They took measures and created evacuation plans. They were waiting for the hammer to drop, an attack by the dragonlords to show them their place, only for it to never come.

Years go by and news reaches them that House Aurion had left the freehold with only a small handful staying behind. They do not hear any news of those that left until years after Avalon had been formed. When they found out about the completion of the Northern Canal they sent an envoy to Lady Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra promptly left her son in charge and sailed to Braavos.

When she reaches there she meets with the Sealord of Braavos. The Free City of Braavos would the first and for a long time only trade partner of Avalon that was not from Westeros. Through Braavos, House Aurion was kept apprised of the situation with the Freehold as well as Essos. The uncloaking of Braavos had yet to happen as such Rhaenyra agreed to keep its location a secret.

After her meeting Lady Rhaenyra was approached by officials from the Iron Bank, as most of the ships lost belonged to House Aurion the Iron Bank compensated them for their lost ships and gave Rhaenyra a ceremonial key to the vault which held said funds. From then on House Aurion maintained an account with the Iron Bank of Braavos, while they kept most of their fortunes divided between vaults in Moat Cailin and New Valyria, a modest sum was invested and stored with the Iron bank. These funds would remain untouched and would simply accrue interest until House Aurion needed to utilize it. Centuries later these funds would be used to pay the Company of the Rose, whose main headquarters was located in Braavos.

It would not be until after Robert's Rebellion that they would attempt any expansion of trade to the rest of Essos. Due to an incident with William Aurion while he was in Myr involving glassmakers, relations between Avalon and Myr are somewhat hostile. Elaena was able to form trade agreements with Volantis and Lys, mostly due to the fact that a few of the Families in the free cities had children who married into House Aurion centuries ago.

* * *

Traditions and practices of House Aurion

 _" To the other Kingdoms, we are some strange offshoot of the Freehold that settled in the "barbaric north" If one were to know our actual history they would realize that we are no strangers to war, no stranger to all of its "glories"... and all of its horrors."_ \- Daemon Aurion talking to Olenna Tyrell before the Rebellion

"Glory? Very little of that in war, but I concede that there is one moment of glory in war: Victory." - Aelyx Aurion

Over the course of its history House Aurion was forced to adopt a variety of practices. Due to the Ghiscari Wars, House Aurion had been brought to near annihilation on several occasions, as such most of the potential heirs are trained extensively and baseborn children have been legitimized in order to ensure the survival of he house. But it's not just the heir-apparent who receives training, from the second-born all the way down to the last-born. The Ghiscari wars showed them that they had to have contingencies in place in the event of the death of the lord and heir to the House.

Because of the wars, House Aurion had a strong dislike for incompetence. The Ghiscari sent numerous assassins to eliminate the families of the Dragonlords with House Aurion having been on the recieving end of most of these assassinations, doing so was a double edged blade. On one hand they were thinning out members of House Aurion, on the other hand all of the competent and capable were able to survive these attempts resulting in a more efficiently run noble house.

The guest right is highly regarded in Avalon as well as House Aurion. However if the person they offer the guest right to refuses it there was the danger that the Lord or Lady of Avalon would decide to have said person eliminated if they were not under it as such most southron nobility always took the guest right when it was offered.

Before Laenor led the exodus from the freehold he gathered all of the slaves that were owned by House Aurion and set them free. When they settled in the North, they were more than able to accept the fact that slavery did not exist in the Sunset kingdoms. The main reason for the general abhorrence to slavery was due to the fact that it was a concept that came from the Ghiscari Empire, an empire whom had nearly wiped out their house on numerous occasions, While their ancestors were more than willing to steal the concept of the Legions from the Empire they found the other practices of the fallen empire abhorrent. Another reason for this dislike stemmed from the potential threat of a slave rebellion, the Ghiscari Empire was hampered from properly retaliating in the last war against the freehold due to the fact that they were also facing numerous slave revolts, The head of house at the time argued against utilizing it because of the revolts but was overruled by the majority of Dragonlords agreeing to utilize it.

After catching the effects of attempting to maintain blood purity, House Aurion sought marriages outside of their family. They even went as far as permitting their heirs and other children to marry commoners, a practice that still stands when they settled in Westeros. They have several long standing marriage agreements with a number of noble houses, they only consider another marriage after three generations have gone past from the last union.

House Aurion had a tendency to look down on bastardy in the sense that they the looked down on infidelity, the member of the family who committed adultery was typically stripped of inheritance or just outright punished. In most cases, these baseborn children were immediately taken in and raised. When they reached adulthood they were usually legitimized or granted a name of their own choosing and given a small holding. During their time in the Freehold a few of these bastards would marry into the other Dragonlords houses.

* * *

Major Noble Houses of Avalon

 **House Aurion of Moat Cailin (Cadet branch)**

House Sigil: A Silver Dragon and Grey Direwolf, addorsed, on a per midnight-blue and blue-grey field

Head of House: William Aurion

Culture: Valyrian and First-men

Seat of Power: Moat Cailin and Silverhall

Military Strength: 10,000 (Legion) 2,500 ( Moat Cailin garrison given to them by House Stark) 2000 (Militia Garrison at Silverhall)

 **House Belaerys**

House Sigil: Sea-green Dragon's head on white

Head of House: Aenar Belaerys

Culture: Valyrian

Seat of power: Castle Aegis and Dragon's Harbour, (Sea dragon's point)

Military Strength: 8,000 troops including garrisons

Naval Military Strength: 10 Galleys

 **House Ryswell**

House Sigil: A black horse's head, eyes and mane red, on bronze within a black engrailed border

Head of House: Rodrik Ryswell

Culture: First Men, Valyrian

Seat of Power: Rills

Military Power: Approximately 7500 troops including garrisons

 **House Dustin**

House Sigil: Two rusted longaxes with black shafts crossed, a black crown between their points, on yellow

Head of House: Willam Dustin

Culture: First men

Seat of Power: Barrow Hall, Barrowton

military strength: approximately 10,000 troops including garrisons

 **House Tallhart**

House Sigil: Three sentinel trees, green on brown (Laenor's Square), A Iron grey mountain on black, single green sentinel tree in the mountain (Ironhold)

Head of House: Helman Tallhart( Laenor's Square) Alysanne Tallhart (Ironhold)

Culture: First men (Laenor's Square, Ironhold) Valyrian (Ironhold)

Seat(s) of Power: Laenor's Square, Ironhold

Approximately 15,500 (8000 at Laenor's Square, 7500 at Ironhold)

 **House Reed**

House Sigil: A black lizard-lion on grey-green

Head of House: Howland Reed

Culture: First men

Seat of Power: Greywater Watch, The Neck

Military power: Approximately 5500 troops (discounting irregulars)

 **House Flint of Flint's Finger**

House Sigil: A grey stone hand upon a white inverted pall on paly black and grey

Head of House: Aedan Flint

Culture: First men

Seat of Power: Flint's finger, South of Blazewater bay

Military power: approximately 4000 troops

 **House Dayne of Stony shore**

House Sigil: A white sword and falling star crossed on violet (compared to lilac of Starfall)

Head of House: Arthur Dayne

Culture: Andals/First men

Seat of Power: Duskhold (Stony Shore)

Military Power: 5500 soldiers (bolstered further by the Legion Garrisoned in the nearby forts)

* * *

 **Author Comments**

Remember when I said I was hoping the last time I wrote this type of section would be the last chapter? I was wrong apologies.

I was pm'd by several people asking how the Legionaries and Soldiers in Avalon and the North respectively looked like so I'll write about it in this section and as i mentioned to them I can't draw for my life so I'm using aesthetics from others

I'm using the Temerian soldiers from the Witcher for main Avalon military Aesthetic, colors of uniforms vary depending on lords

Google "Temerian Infantry" the second, fourth and fifth result, gives you the legion's aesthetic when it comes to armor appearance of the classical heavy infantry of Avalon's Legion while bearing open faced barbuta helmets or Corinthian Style helmets and on a related note the third result is the aesthetic of Avalon's Militia.

However as mentioned in the most recent entry the legion is shifting to a lighter armor, for that google "Blue Stripe Commando" and replace their helms with barbuta helmets/ Corinthian style helmets for the "modern" legionaries.

For their marksmen google "Black infantry Nilfgaard" second result, replace yellow with blue and "Temerian Scout"

Knights/Dragonguard google "Temerian Knight" and add the accessories from the "Faraam Armor Set" (fur draped over pauldrons, style of robe with the colors of their sworn houses) from Dark Souls. They don't all look like this for an alternative look google "a fractured legion" (Elder scrolls Imperial Legion which is a roman-esque aesthetic with a bit of greek aesthetic)

Legion Riders google "elder scrolls legends chapter 19" (color changed based off Noble house ) for the Aesthetic of the Heavy Horse riders and "Temerian Scout" for light horse riders

The aesthetic of the "Blackguard" (name may change) google "underworld rise of the lycans death dealer" fourth and fourteenth result

For the "Dauntless" Aesthetic google "Gondor Soldier Shadow of war" and have the Faraam armor's fur draped over their shoulders

On a somewhat unrelated note the Valyrian's in this AU wore a Greco-roman style armor this is more or less the result of me search up "Targaryen Soldier" and getting an image that gave hoplite/ legionary vibes

The main reason for the style shift is to show that Valyrians of Avalon has more or less integrated with the Native populace of First men/Andals as such the armor appearance shifts to something closer to what the locals wear. But there are also signs that they keep their heritage to some degree, Knights who come from the Valyrian Houses and have Valyrian roots may favor a valyrian style (read: greco-romanesque aesthetic) whereas the knights who favor their First men heritage would wear "northern" style.

The soldiers of the North/Stark would look the same as they did in the show, however due to the fact that they are better off than they were in canon despite the loss of territory, their soldiers are better armed and armored, most would have armguards, pauldrons, and leg armor (think blue stripe commando armguard and greaves) with some of the veteran soldiers opting remove their coat of plates and replace it with chestplate emblazoned or etched with the sigil of their House. their heavier armored soldiers would be wearing what I would call half-plate armor.

* * *

 **I was just replaying Dragon Age: Origins when I was writing this, so yeah the Mabari are from Dragon Age**

 **House Aurion and the Branch House draw from the same numbers (10,000 at Moat Cailin and 5,000 at New Valyria not counting city watch)**

 **Now you're probably thinking, wow that's a lot of soldiers. You're not wrong however, several factors are in play, one their population is large, two those numbers include garrisons and not all of those soldiers are active the number is more of an indication of how many men they can muster if they had ample amount of time. With more people surviving winter, and several groups of refugees fleeing from the various conflicts in the South (Dance of Dragons, Blackfyre Rebellions) results in Avalon having a much larger population than the canon northern regions would have as this happens over the course of 300 years. This also extends to the North who also has more people surviving winter.**

 **I've always viewed the morality of the characters in the story as varying shades of grey, House Aurion is no different.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello again more character bios and once more most likely screwing with ASoIaF and GoT history in this case certain individuals whose names I will not mention here were born a few years earlier as well as a few events such as Battle of Redgrass Field happening in 198 AC rather than 196**

 **Didn't realize that removing the update counted as a chapter so i'm posting this a little early as an apology**

 **Shout-out to C.E.W for the Character idea**

 **Aso, I need to alter something I mentioned in Chapter One: Brandon Stark did not die at King's Landing. He wasn't there in the First place. His Father along with Daemon Aurion and Elaena Aurion were captured and brought to King's Landing. William ran off with a number of his father's soldiers while Brandon joined him, admittedly i'm still trying to figure out what I should do with him but he won't rushing off to King's Landing on his own.**

 **The relationship between the Dayne Siblings and the Auron siblings are close to family, in the sense that Ashara would help Elaena relax mentally speaking, calming her down when she was stressed out by the antics of her brother or the duties that she had to take on as Lady of New Valyria, whereas Arthur was essentially William's minder in his youth, he would make sure that William wouldn't do something that could kill him and if he was going to do something he would try to dissuade him with mixed results. During the Journey to Old Valyria he was trying to manage both William and Lyanna, trying to avoid an incident while making sure that his liege lords heir didn't die.**

* * *

Aelyx Aurion

Physical Appearance: White hair (formerly natural gray) Lilac eyes. ( for actor reference Stephen Lang)

Born:186 AC

Age: 96 (rebellion), 113 (WotFK)

Titles: Warden of Avalon (abdicated) Lord of New Valyria and Moat Cailin (Abdicated)

Nicknames: Child Lord (when he originally took up his lord ship) Old Dragon

Hand of the King to Aegon V (dismissed by Jaehaerys II)

Spouse: Jocelyn Mormont

Family: Maekar (IV) Aurion (Father, deceased ), Unknown (Mother) Baelon (II) Aurion (Half-Brother, Deceased )Elaena Aurion (granddaughter) William Aurion (grandson), Rhaena Aurion (great-granddaughter) Jon Aurion ( great-grandson ), Rhaella Aurion (great-granddaughter)

Children: Daemon Aurion (Son, deceased) Saera Aurion

Personality: In his youth, Aelyx could have been described as cold and distant. It was the result of having to take on ruling Avalon from a young age. In battle he was feared for being both a competent commander as well as a fearsome warrior. His enemies were few due to how ruthless he was when dealing with them and in most cases he would end their threat in a permanent fashion. Even during his tenure as hand most of Aegon's detractors were wary of opposing the king lest they caught The attention of Aelyx. As the hand he was a dutiful servant of the Throne, but this was mostly due to the friendship he had with the king, were it any other king he would have refused.

He is more closer to his grandson rather than his granddaughter, this is less of him disliking her and more of his grandson's circumstances (William having facing a near death experience at the same age he did ) striking a chord with him. With his son busy with his daughter, Aelyx became a mentor to his grandson

Now that years have gone by his demeanor become more gentle and kind when it comes to his family though he can still come across as cold and ruthless to outsiders. he is known to dote upon his family and advise them, knowing that they're in a similar situation to the one he was in at their age.

* * *

Notable Facts:

\- The first Lord Aurion to involve himself in Southern politics thoroughly

\- Took lordship of Avalon at a young age

\- Participated at the Battle of Redgrass Field (12 years old)

-Identity of his mother is unknown to everyone but his family

\- Befriended Aegon V and Duncan the Tall at Ashford, fought for Duncan during the Trial of the Seven

\- Improved the defenses of King's Landing as well as organize several infrastructural projects during his tenure as Hand, resulting in the smell of King's landing becoming less apparent

\- Helped Aegon V push through several reforms

\- Aegon was inspired to try and hatch dragon eggs when Aelyx informed him of how magic had not died out and how he (Aelyx) could still use it

\- Held the position of Hand for the entirety of Aegon V's reign

\- Outlived his son, Daemon

\- Advises his grandchildren

\- taught his grandson William on how to utilize magic

-Magic made his body age much slower

* * *

Quotes about him

 _" I was there to see King Aegon hold court. When I first entered the throne room and there sat a man on the Iron Throne. He was magnificent, there was an air about him and when he spoke he exuded authority. He was cold, and he showed no mercy when dealing with those who had committed crimes against the crown even when the lord in chains went on his knees and begged, we later learned that the king fell ill and that it was his Hand that held court in his stead. Despite that, the image was carved into my mind, and I could not help but think: that was how a king was supposed to look like." -_ Tywin Lannister, talking to his brother and sister after returning home

 _" I remember how father spoke of_ him, _and it was so difficult to relate the old man doting upon his great-grandchildren to the ruthless statesmen and general my father talked about." - Jaime Lannister talking to his brother_

 _"This was man who held the position of Hand longer than father ever did," -_ Tyrion Lannister upon meeting and engaging in conversation with Aelyx Aurion

 _"The gods saw fit to let him age gracefully,"_ \- thoughts of Olenna Tyrell upon meeting him in court in 253 AC during the celebration of the Hand's sixty seventh nameday.

* * *

Bio

The Youngest of four sons, Aelyx never expected to become the next Warden of Avalon. Unfortunately, his father and brothers fell in battle and illness claimed his last sibling. Aelyx was forced to take on the title of Lord at the tender age of ten, Aelyx performed admirably thanks to his heeding of advice from his father's vassals. When he was twelve he was convinced to answer the call to Arms against Daemon Blackfyre, With the deaths of his commanders Aelyx had to personally lead his soldiers in battle, rallying them after Blackfyre had broken the shield wall. By the end of the Battle he had earned the respect of the Targaryen Princes as well making a friend in Lyonel Baratheon.

He had maintained a correspondance with Prince Baelor and Lyonel Baratheon who had convinced him to come and observe a proper Tourney, as such Aelyx was present the Tourney at Ashford. In less than a day of arriving he had ended up in quarrel with Prince Aerion Targaryen and was reported to have been attacked by the prince and his entourage only to have Ser Lyonel and Prince Baelor arrive to defend him it had ended with Aelyx knocking the prince unconscious. Trying to avoid a diplomatic incident Prince Maekar took measures to keep them both separated for the duration. They encountered each other again when Prince Aerion had demanded a trial of the seven on a hedge knight. Aelyx was more than willing to participate if only have an opportunity to attack the Prince. During the trial he accounted for himself very well at one point saving both Ser Humfrey Hardying and Prince Baelor from a mortal injuries. The trial had ended in favor of the hedge knight and Tourney ended shortly after. From this Aelyx made more friends in the South in the form of the hedge knight he had defended as well as the other knights who he fought beside.

He would head back home to Avalon only to return to the South a year and a half later to attend the funeral of Prince Baelor who had perished alongside his Children during the Great Spring Sickness.

Years later he is called to the court of the Iron throne by his friend Egg or King Aegon V to act as Aegon's Hand. He served diligently and the kingdoms under the Iron Throne prospered thanks to both his and Aegon's efforts. Unfortunately, this came at the cost of estrangement from his own son Daemon whom he had neglected due to his duties as Aegon's hand.

For his friend, Aelyx commanded the Royal army against the Blackfyre pretenders during the fourth Rebellion. Aelyx was not present at Summerhall as his overtures in reconciling with his son had worked and he had returned home for his son's nameday as well as the birth of his granddaughter Elaena. Due to his absence, he was made a scapegoat and blamed for the deaths of the King and Lord-Commander and dismissed from service. Aelyx walked up to newly crowned Jaehaerys II, whispered in his ear and struck him. It is said that the Kingsguard tried to apprehend him only to be disarmed by Aelyx's bodyguard, Aelyx removed the brooch that marked him Hand of the King, he dropped it to the ground and crushed it under his heel, before walking away from a silent court.

After he had stepped down he had looked forward to what amounted to a retirement for himself, he mended fences with his son and doted upon his grandchildren. He took to mentoring his Grandson when he noticed the boy was being somewhat ignored by his father. What made this more enjoyable was the fact that his grandson had the capability to utilize magic and took time to educate him in it's use.

When his grandson was planning on running away Aelyx provided him a ship to depart on, with the stipulation that he would return it. It was most likely that this was the reason that William Aurion had changed his plans from running away and never coming back to running away so he could see the world before he was tied up with responsibility.

When his son was captured by the Mad King, Aelyx aided his grandson and Brandon Stark by informing them of secret passages in the Red Keep which he and Brandon Stark would use to make a rescue attempt. Aelyx stayed behind to marshal the Legions. When his grandchildren returned with his son's body, he was brought to tears for the first time since he found out that his father and brothers had died. Aelyx remained behind organizing additional Legions to act as reinforcements for the Rebel host.

After the rebellion had ended, his grandchildren constantly sought advice from the old Lord and he was more than willing to provide it. Over the years he spent time in both New Valyria and Moat Cailin, doting on and tutoring his great-grandchildren.

* * *

Lyanna Aurion (Stark)

Physical Appearance: Dark hair, grey eyes ( actor reference either Kate Beckensale or Alicia Vikandar honestly have no clue which to pick, armor aesthetic "lancer arthur" (the first result,yes its FGO.) I'm a horrible artist, but switch the lion motif with a direwolf motif, armor is also a darker grey)

Age: 17 (Rebellion) 34 (WotFK)

Titles and Nicknames: Lady of Moat Cailin, She-wolf, Wolf-maid (in her youth)

Flaw: impulsive, stubborn

Family: Rickard Stark (Father, deceased) Brandon Stark (brother) Eddard Stark (brother), Benjen Stark (brother)

Spouse: William Aurion

Children: Jon Aurion (16, WotFK), Rhaella Aurion (13, WotFK)

Personality: When she was younger, she could be described as wild and willful and in some cases childish. This results in several arguments between her and William over the course of their journey into Essos. it took a combination of marriage and motherhood to get her to change so to speak. as while she has not changed much from her youth, her wildness and impulsiveness have been tempered by age and maturity.

* * *

Notable Facts:

Ran off with William Aurion during his first journey to Essos, accompanied by Arthur Dayne they were intercepted by Brandon Stark at Myr, who proceeded to join them in their expedition.

Reached Old Valyria

Returned to the North, Betrothed to William Aurion.

Attempted to participate in the Tourney at Harrenhal, William stopped her and took her place as the Knight of the Laughing Tree

Was present at the Battle of the Trident, wore the guise of the Knight of the Laughing Tree, retrieved William after his failed attempt at getting to Rhaegar Targaryen

Fought beside her husband during the Ironborn Rebellion

* * *

" _Why didn't she take me with her!?" -_ Brandon Stark, upon finding out that Lyanna ran off to Essos, he would find and join her four months later

 _"The looks on their faces when they realized what their fathers were planning was worth the entirety of our journey"_ \- Ser Arthur Dayne on their return to the North talking to his sister Ashara

 _"Were it not for my wife, I might have died there on the Trident"_ \- Lord William Aurion, Talking to his nephew Robb Stark about the Battle of the Trident on his thirteenth Nameday

 _"I was there when Lord Tywin brought the bodies of the Princess and her children to the throne room. Loath that I am to admit it I was relieved their survival would have caused issues down the line. Robert himself was smiling, In lieu of William Aurion who was still recovering from his injuries Ned's sister Lyanna was present. The look of horror and disgust on her face made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with the new king." - Jon Arryn to the Master of Whispers_

 _"Very few could match her when she was riding a horse into battle"_ \- Ser Arthur Dayne, trying reassure Brandon, Eddard, and Benjen on her presence in the Iron Isles during the Rebellion

* * *

 **Bio**

Born in Winterfell, Lyanna was the third born child of Rickard Stark. The Maester of Winterfell suggested to Lord Rickard that he should use his children to seek marriages with the Southern Kingdoms. Unfortunately, Lyanna heard of what was planned and was preparing to run away, when she heard of Robert Baratheon's suit and how her father was going to accept it, she made the decision in a heartbeat. She made it as far as Moat Cailin before encountering William Aurion preparing to embark for his expedition.

William was in similar circumstances, His father wanted to wed him off to strengthen ties with his vassal houses due to his status as a second son. While he was a bit more accepting of it and was willing to do what his father wanted ( As far as she knew) , he still wanted to travel around Essos and even attempt to reach Old Valyria as the entire reason for finding a match was to keep him from leaving. Knowing that his father was summoning his vassals to find a suitable match, So with the aid of his grandfather Aelyx he took advantage of the situation and was preparing to run off. Both Arthur Dayne at the time a sworn knight to House Aurion and his cousin Howland Reed were present and attempting to dissuade him from running off when he encountered Lyanna Stark. Not knowing who she was at the time but inferring that she was running away, William offered her passage to Essos, and she accepted much to Arthur's horror as after they had embarked and he realized who she was.

Arthur tried and failed to convince William that he should sail back and bring her home which was made worse by the fact that she wanted to come along, they traveled to Braavos first, Landed in Pentos to acquire additional supplies. They were waylaid in Myr due to a dispute between William and a Myrish noble, this was also when Brandon Stark had caught up with them and decided to join their expedition, he would make fast friends with William Aurion despite the difference in interests. They then traveled to and past the other Free cities along the coast including, Tyrosh, Lys and Volantis without any notable incident.

When they returned to the North they were welcomed by their families in White Harbour. Much to William's horror, Lyanna's (secret) delight, Brandon's amusement and Arthur's enjoyment, Lyanna had been betrothed to William and they were wed a two months after the Tourney at Harrenhal.

When the rebellion broke out William was adamant that she stay behind for a number of reasons. For a time she relented to his wishes, only to join the Legion by taking on the guise of a knight. It wasn't until the Battle of the Trident that Arthur Dayne realized she was present. He would watch her like a hawk and keep her close during the Battle of the Trident. She watched as her husband led his men on a charge into the centre of the Royalist force and alongside Arthur went to go find him. By the time they got there they found him laying on the ground with the bodies of three Kingsguard surrounding him. Lyanna dragged him off the field to get his injuries tended to. In the aftermath of the battle her brother Ned realized that she was present the entire time.

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a brief excerpt on Ice

The name of the ancestral weapon of House Stark is a legacy title of the weapon wielded by the Stark of Winterfell. The original weapon was a Mace that was lost centuries ago. Other weapons took up the title, but they were either lost or broken. House Stark would not find a proper weapon until after House Aurion had landed. When the Andal Crusades into the North began, it happened at the same time that an ironborn fleet attacked the fledgling capital of Avalon. New Valyria would have been destroyed were it not for House Stark. When House Aurion sent messages to the noble houses calling for aid, House Stark martialed most of its force. Prince Theon Stark would lead them to Moat Cailin and relieve the defenders. The Stark host would join the Legions in driving off the Ironborn. Out of gratitude, Rhaenyra Aurion promised to wed a daughter from House Aurion to House Stark. While this would not be honored until after the deaths of the agreed parties, there was a more notable gift. That gift was a Valyrian Steel Greatsword, the grip and guard was a dull silver it was shaped like a direwolfs head (like the stag on Widow's Wail), the blade had a dark and smoky appearance, on the blade were carved runes of both High Valyrian and First-men. This sword would become Ice, House Stark's ancestral weapon and has stayed as such for over three centuries.

Blackfyre Rebellions

 _"A child? the North sends a child?"_ \- Prince Baelor Targaryen upon the arrival of Northern reinforcements

 _"They were men of true steel, twelve times Daemon Blackfyre led charges against the Legion shield wall and twelve times he was denied. But they were human and humans make mistakes. eventually, Blackfyre broke through their defense, killing most of them, but he never got past them. We scoffed at the Child who led them, some green boy named Aelyx of House Aurion. Yet despite it all, he rallied them and they fought on, howling defiance towards Blackfyre as they pushed him back. Maybe a little under a third of their original number survived yet they reformed their shield wall and fought on regardless..."_ \- King Maekar I "The Anvil" Targaryen an anecdote written by the king reflecting on the martial prowess the Northerners showed at Battle of Redgrass field

 _"By the end of the battle no one would dare mock him as a child playing at war, not after what they saw."_ \- Brynden Rivers on Aelyx Aurion in the Aftermath of the Battle at Redgrass field

House Aurion hold a fair portion of the blame for the Blackfyre Rebellions. King Aegon the fourth, who would late be known as "the Unworthy" attempted to kidnap Rhaenys Aurion to claim as his concubine, her older brother, and current lord, Valarr took offence. After his sister had been rescued by the Knights who abducted her no armies were raised, but there were rumors that Valarr chose to employ subterfuge, and poisoned King Aegon IV. On his deathbed King Aegon would legitimize all of his Bastards, sowing the seeds for the Blackfyre Rebellions.

House Aurion had very little interaction with the South during the Blackfyre Rebellion's. during the first rebellion, House Blackwood more specifically Brynden Rivers requested military aid and the young lord Aelyx brought a single legion to support with House Stark sending their own forces alongside them. At Redgrass field they held the line admirably, the Legionaries and Northerners made the core of Prince Maekar's shield wall, After their line had been broken and they reformed the Northerners repelled several more assaults. Rightfully assuming that they had taken the bite out of the Blackfyre soldiers and their repeated assaults and desiring some degree of vengeance for their dead, the Avaloni led by Aelyx broke formation from the Northerners and advanced, cutting down all who stood in their way their intent was to attack Daemon Blackfyre. While the Blackfyres were able to hold them off they nevertheless making progress in advancing towards Blackfyre's camp. It was at that point that Prince Baelor Targaryen to arrived and smashed into their rear flank with his own host distracting the Blackfyre host while Brynden and his Raven's Teeth took the Weeping Ridge and rained arrows upon Daemon Blackfyre and his sons forcing the others into a retreat as Bittersteel dueled and took out Bryden's eye. With the Royal victory the Northerners gathered their dead and marched back Home.

The second and third rebellion passed by without the presence or intervention of the North.

The Fourth Rebellion occurred when Aelyx Aurion was made Hand of the King, he was the second Northerner to hold the title and the only hand to hold the title for more than 20 years. He and well as the Lord-commander of the Kingsguard led the Royal Army and crushed the Blackfyre pretenders.

During the war of the Ninepenny Kings. Despite having been insulted by the dismissal less than a year ago, Aelyx Aurion and his son Daemon answered the call to arms. With Daemon distinguishing himself by storming the Stepstones with two Legions While his father led the Avaloni Navy against Samarro Saan and his band of pirates. Daemon befriended Roger Reyne after saving the Westerland host from annihilation after the death of Jason Lannister. It was Daemon and his men who cut a bloody path through the Golden Company allowing Barristan Selmy to challenge and slay Maelys the Monstrous ending the line of the Blackfyre Pretenders.

 **Arthur was also telling them for a lack of a better term to "get a room" (not actually how he would phrase it but you get the idea).**

 **Aelyx took the place of Humfrey Beesbury in the Trial**

 **The behavior that some of the characters might show may come across as OOC canonwise, I would like to point out that in some cases (Lyanna and Brandon) they're young and will change to some degree when they get older. I also chose some of these characters due to lack of Characterization, Arthur Dayne: Became a Kingsguard (no idea when) Good commander, one of the greatest knights to ever live, that's it. Ashara Dayne, great beauty, Eddard Stark (supposedly) and Barristan Selmy were in love with her, thats it. Lyanna Stark: Rhaegars lover, tomboyish girl, Ran off with Rhaegar and (spoilers) Jon's mother thats it. Willam Dustin: fought beside Eddard Stark and died at the tower of Joy, you get the idea. Characters with very little written are whom i'm choosing.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author Note: A bit short, but I didn't want to write an announcement without writing an entry**

 **Just posting this to reannounce _the Forge,_ most of it will be content related to Records and event that prelude the Game of Thrones for a lack of a better term. I've rated it M, mostly because I may get graphic with descriptions in the future, as well as the fact that there will probably be adult themes (**it's **Game of Thrones/ ASoIaF for crying out loud)**

 **This also means that Records is on a technical hiatus, doesn't mean I will stop writing this but I will be more focused on writing scenes for the Forge.**

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A brief excerpt on the origins of the Freehold

The Valyrian's were originally nomadic tribals, scattered around the Valyrian peninsula. Eventually, one tribal chief whom Valyrian and eventually Northern scholars would refer to as Lady Valyria would unite a great many of these tribes, Not all agreed with her and battled her to maintain their own independence. What helped her turn the wars in her favor were the Nomads of Tyria. Tyria was a recently established town built North of the fourteen flames, built by the local tribes. The tribe inhabiting it had taken in a number of survivors from destroyed tribes, as such there was surprising large population than the Lady Valyria thought there would be.

She managed to convince the nomads of Tyria to join her, the main reason that she wished to convince them to join her cause was their proficiency in magic. At first they would simply be allies as the Tyrians were powerful enough maintained their own independence with or without her, but that would change when she joined them on their expedition to the Fourteen Flames. After aiding them in discovering and acquiring dragon eggs as well as hatching a few dragons one of which was Stormcrown, the Tyrians would swear allegiance to the Chieftainess.

There are very few records that confirm her existence, to most of the world her name was lost to History with only those who possessed personal records of those times knowing the existence of Lady Valyria, but the accounts that did survive implied that the Valyrian Freehold was named after someone to honor them when they had fallen in the final battle to unite the nomads.

While the Tyrians would have preferred to isolate themselves from the rest of the nomads, they felt that they could not dishonor her memory nor her wishes and maintained their loyalty to the new Freehold as a way of Honoring the deceased Lady Valyria. The Tribes of Tyria would become the forebears of House Aurion of Tyria and the Valyrian Freehold eventually their descendants would become House Aurion of Avalon.

House Aurion would help the Freehold in establishing several colonies including Volantis, Lys and Qohor. Thousands of years later, many of their fellow dragonlords were perplexed when the Majority of House Aurion save for a few left with their Head of House when he departed from the Freehold, even more surprising was the departure of population of Tyria and smaller portions of smallfolk and soldiers from the rest of the Freehold who joined them in their exodus.

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Magic

 _"Valyria was not the last ember of magic,"_ \- Aelyx Aurion to his grandson William

The art of the Arcane has an intimate history with members of House Aurion. Practiced long before they became dragonlords or a noble house, going back to when they were nothing more than nomadic Tribals. The Aurion's studied magic extensively to better protect themselves against it. Their studies resulted in some of the earlier examples of blood magic, protective wards. Using their own blood as catalyst they were able to create wards that protected their camps, to further strengthen their ability to defend themselves they looked to the elements, more specifically Tegon and Perzys (Earth and Fire). With their newfound magic abilities and the need for the mages to have a place to properly practice their craft, the Aurion tribe built a small town north of the Fourteen Flames, this town would eventually become the city known as Tyria. When the Dragons were found by united tribes many years later, dragonfire became a very potent catalyst which allowed them to build the black walls around Valyria itself. Collaborating with other freehold mages they built another set of Black Walls around the outpost that would be known as Volantis.

Their affinity with magic was potent enough to affect their lifespans with majority of their practitioners tending to lead longer lives unless if they fell in battle. When one ambitious tribal leader convinced them to join their fellow nomads and establish the freehold, they as a gesture of goodwill they shared their knowledge of magic with the fellow Valyrian's A mistake they would regret for generations to come. Their 'comrades' had twisted magic teachings to suit their own needs eventually creating the "Blood Magic" that most people feared in the modern day, this was one of many factors that resulted in House Aurion's eventual departure from the Freehold.'

Their Knowledge of other forms of Magic expanded after the Spice wars, a number of Rhoynish water mages were not able to escape with Nymeria and her ships. Instead they threw themselves at the mercy of House Aurion. The Aurion at the time claimed them as under his protection. He brought them to Tyria where the grateful mages shared all their knowledge on Rhoynish Water Magic. These Water mages and their descendants would live in Tyria until they too left with Laenor Aurion when he made his exodus.

When they settled in the North, House Aurion utilized their knowledge of magic to restore the original defences of Moat Cailin replacing them with black walls and towers in place of the old stone ones, Rhaenyra Aurion also used magic to create the Black walls of New Valyria. The Black walls of New Valyria indicate the size of city when it was first built. Rhoynish Water magic was utilized to temporarily alter the flow of the fever river when the Northern laborers were building the Canal. When the Doom occurred they found that their magic capabilities had diminished significantly. While it was not weakened enough for the practice of magic to be halted entirely, many of the feats they could do in the past were now out of reach. When the city expanded the additional curtain walls had to be built by hand rather than magic.

In modern day, With very few practitioners outside of Avalon barring the Essos, and a few members of House Aurion possessing the talent as well, they have kept their abilities and proficiency in the art of the arcane a secret, magic is but a thing of the past, Nothing but fairy tales in the South, but in Avalon it is spoken in hushed whispers by the Order of Scholars on how magic seems to be returning ever so slowly...

* * *

The Navy

"Forward to victory, come Hell or High waters!" -The motto of the Avalon Navy, often shortened to 'come hell or high waters'

 _"This must have been how my father felt when I ran off,"_ \- William Aurion to his wife, Upon finding out that his ward had run off with his son and the heir to Ironhold to go gallivanting around Essos.

The Exodus fleet was one of the few examples of a powerful naval force, at the time the only ones capable of besting them at sea would have been the Ironborn had they ever come to blows, While the Valyrian sailors under House Aurion lacked the natural skill and ferocity of the Ironborn, they made up for it with a willingness to learn and the discipline hammered into them from their training. The exodus fleet was dismantled upon landing in the Riverlands. Laenor would not see a need to rebuild the fleet after they had settled in the North, It was not until the Ironborn attacked their holdings that the fleet was rebuilt.

A number of modern Avaloni ships are war galleys, this type of ship makes up half of the entire fleet. With constant Ironborn raids, a fair number of longships have been captured due to the damage inflicted upon them by the navy, most are scrapped for spare materials with a small number being repaired, manned and used to patrol the coasts and intercept smugglers and smaller pirate vessels.

Having handed his lordship to his son, Aelyx Aurion used his spare time to design a new ship, it utilized the design of the traditional war galley seen in the Eight Kingdoms and the sails of the Swan ships of the Summer Isles. The ship possessed three decks, the lowest deck was occupied by the oarsmen and acted as a storage area, Mid-deck acted as crew quarters and housed a broadside of scorpion bolt throwers, mostly used to discourage boarders. The ship would be named the _Sea Dragon_ mostly due to the top deck mounted wildfire throwers. It was with this ship that William Aurion traveled around Essos and eventually Old Valyria, Aelyx had recently returned from ensuring the ships' seaworthiness. Knowing his grandson was intent on fleeing before his son Daemon could tie him down with a betrothal, Aelyx offered the ship for his journey.

During his travels the _Sea Dragon_ was attacked by a number of pirates and at a few points slavers, in each encounter the ship would destroy the attacking ships with little to no damage to itself, The _Sea Dragon_ would be referred to as the 'Ghost of the Narrow Sea' by pirates and slavers though no one knew the identity of the ship and later on after the Ironborn rebellion it would also be referred to as the 'Terror of the Sunset Sea' no one would associate the two titles with the same ship or realize that it was the same ship in the first place. Nowadays, the _Sea Dragon_ is the flagship of the Eastern Navy, patrolling the eastern coast of the North in cooperation with the Manderly Fleet and defending the canal from opportunistic pirates from the Three Sisters

While the ship was able taking on anything the other Seven kingdoms could throw at it, The design itself was considered impractical for mass production. The Greyjoy ward of House Aurion was fascinated by the design of the _Sea Dragon_ and made it a side project to design her own ship. William Aurion was fairly lenient when it came to what his Ward could or could not do, So eventually he humored her when she requested resources to build a new ship which she would name the _Black Kraken_. The ship was smaller than the Sea Dragon as well as only possessing two decks, The lower deck played three roles, it was where the oars for the rowers were placed as well as crew quarters and storage the Top deck of the ship had a smaller ballistae broadside and catapults in place of the Fire-throwers.

He would regret this to some degree a few years later when she ran off much like himself, taking his Son as well as the Heir of Ironhold with her. He sent a small number of longships to intercept her only to find that her new ship was able to outpace them with relative ease. When she returned, he lambasted her much like how his mother had lambasted him when he returned home from his own Voyage. Though he admitted that he was impressed by the design of her ship, after making a few alterations with the help of Aelyx, Asha presented a new design for the shipwrights and they began to build twenty of these new ships which were referred to as 'brig's'. Recently the shipwrights of New Valyria and Dragon's Harbour have been constructing Brigs instead of War galleys to support the already large defense fleet of Avalon.

* * *

 **I'm no designer so I have no clue if a ship like the one I described (if I even described it properly) is a viable design, What originally inspired this entry was me replaying Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag Kenway's ship was the Jackdaw, a commandeered Spanish Brig.**

 **Link to the Forge: s/13018062/1/The-Forge**


	12. Chapter 12

**First of all apologies to the people who like this work/writing and were waiting for an update, classes started for me so I was more focused on that and it got abit busy for me and it still is.**

 **Also went back and edited previous entries such as the age of Elaena Aurion who I realized was much older if she was born at about the same time as Rhaegar. I'll leave the age disparity between her and William up for speculation**

 **I use the 'quotes' to flesh out entries so to speak giving a sort of narrative element**

 **Another thing that i did not really talk about is the Children and the White Walkers, The Children got a bit more proactive in preparing for the Long Night this will become more apparent in the Story proper.**

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The Gods of Old Valyria

"Thank you Sacred Huntress for a bountiful hunt..." - A common prayer amongst Hunters with Valyrian heritage

 _" Balerion and Meraxes were furious and let their anger be known"_ \- Sailor from the Avaloni Navy upon finding ironborn shipwrecks not caused by them

 _"I saw her! The Silver-eyed goddess! she rode a massive wolf and behind her were beasts of all shapes and sizes. Beside her was a massive creature wrapped in chains..." -_ A supposed witness describing the Wild Hunt, said witness was reported to have died weeks later.

While the Valyrians themselves never truly followed any one religion there was nevertheless a pantheon of gods worshiped long before the freehold was formed. While there was more than a dozen deities there were Six that were primarily worshiped, their names and identities have changed with time but what they stood for never did.

 **Balerion** , the God of the sky, known as 'He who heralds the storm'. The supposed King of the Gods who holds dominion over the sky and the winds.

 **Meraxes** , the wife of Balerion and the Goddess of the Sea often referred to as 'She who shakes the earth'. She holds dominion over the sea and Valyrian sailors often prayed to her and her husband for safe passage. Stormy waters were often attributed to her anger and sailors often prayed to her for mercy when sailing through rough waters

 **Arrax** , Son of Balerion. God of Wisdom and Victory. Among the Dragonlords who worshipped gods he held the strongest following.

 **Artoras** , Sister of Vermithor, Goddess of the Nature referred to as the 'Queen of beasts' and 'She who leads the Wild Hunt'. Among the few gods of the Valyrian Pantheon still worshipped by modern day specifically by the Valyrians in the North. It is said that she heralds the coming of war when her brother Vermithor rides with her.

 **Vermithor,** the God of War and Vengeance, sometimes referred to as 'The Blood-drenched Fury' often deplicted as a beast trapped in chains. Some pray to him for strength.

 **Morghul,** the God of death and the afterlife. The warriors of old who worshipped the pantheon often painted their faces with their own blood with the hope that the god of death would let them survive the battle and live another day. It is said that the Valyrians of Avalon follow this practice before a pitched battle further enforcing the idea that they were savages in the eyes of the Westerosi. Morghul judges the souls of the dead sends them to their proper rest.

* * *

 _A brief extract on the Forces of Westeros_

 _"Impressive…"_ – Lady Elaena Aurion upon seeing the prowess of the Lannister army on the Iron Isles during the Ironborn Rebellion

" _Of the Eight kingdoms, The Westerlands, Avalon and the North maintain standing armies at any given moment"_ – Grandmaester Pycelle tutoring Princess Myrcella and Prince Tommen

There are three kingdoms that treat soldiery as a profession: Avalon, The North and the Westerlands. While the Vale, Riverlands and Stormlands boast capable warriors and knights, The Westerlands boast the only other professional force in the Eight kingdoms. While lacking the longstanding martial practices and traditions of the Northern Realms, the Westerland army possesses the best training and equipment money can buy. Under Tywin Lannister the army became more formidable as he had whipped it into better shape once he became lord paramount. Their numbers are further bolstered by the traditional feudal levies of the other Lords of the Westerlands.

Most of the Lannister foot-soldiers wear a set of light plate armor not to dissimilar to the armor worn by the Valyrian Legions of old. This has resulted in a durable fighting force that could withstand significant punishment and fight in protracted battles. Unfortunately this makes it more difficult for the infantry formations to maneuver during sudden shifts in battle, compared to the Avaloni Legions who traded protection for better mobility. Nevertheless, the army of the Westerlands is a force to be reckoned with, one that could match the armies other kingdoms blow for blow and only truly rivaled by the Military forces in the North.

The Longbow was the main armament of the Lannister Archers but like the Legions and armies of the North the crossbow also saw significant use in the Lannister army. The longbow allowed them to outrange most of their enemies The Knights of the westerlands acted as a force of heavy horsemen that led the vanguard of the army.

* * *

' _They're more Northerner than they are Andal._ " -Hoster Tully on Houses Mallister and Blackwood

 _"Good thing they're on our side."_ \- Captain Agathon of the Thirteenth Avaloni Legion after finding the aftermath of an ambush laid by House Blackwood archers during the Ironborn Rebellion

The Riverlands has always been a heavily contested region. As such it is a melting pot of cultures, Andal, First men , Ironborn and in some rare cases Valyrian. Due their stronger ties with Avalon, Houses Mallister and Blackwood lean closer to the first men in terms of culture they even have their own forces organized in a manner akin to the Legions of Avalon and the armies of the North on a smaller scale. Thanks to the prosperity they gained from maintaining ties with Avalon both houses can form at the very least single Legion's worth of men from their holdings without compromising their defenses, this is the result of multiple instances of refugees fleeing from the civil strife in the South.

Due to frequent Ironborn raids, House Mallister boasts a modestly sized fleet of fifteen warships to defend its holdings, this was further bolstered by an additional ten when House Aurion donated ten newly-built brigs to House Mallister years after the Ironborn rebellion. In terms of martial might House Mallister boasts some of the more ferocious warriors of Riverlands, as seen when they beat back the attack on Seaguard despite being outnumbered three to one.

The men under House Blackwood have strong military traditions rooted in Archery. The Raven's Teeth, the personal troops of Brynden Rivers or Lord Bloodraven find their origins as bannermen of House Blackwood, these men while under the command of Lord Bloodraven ended the lives of Daemon Blackfyre and two of his sons. While most of them would follow Brynden into exile to the Wall, a few remained at Raventree hall teaching the next generation of Blackwood Archers. Their skill was such that House Aurion often procured the services of Blackwood archers as both auxilliaries and trainers for their own troops. Very few can match the archers of House Blackwood even the hardened marksmen of the other kingdoms give pause at the idea of facing them.

In terms of land forces both houses took up the practice of forming units of 'riders' much like House Aurion and Stark had. With both houses possessing a sizable number of knights, these riders tend to be better trained compared to their northern cousins who make up for lack of training with experience from Wildling and Pirate raids. The riders are often the first response to bandits and raiders, in most cases they are able to destroy them but in the rare cases that they fail to do so they nevertheless drive them away.

 _"They are among the few forces that give even the Northerners pause."_ \- Lord Arthur Dayne on the Knights of the Vale and Dornish Infantry

The Avaloni and Northern Knights and riders are considered one of the more formidable forces in the Eight Kingdoms, matched by the heavy Horse of the Westerlands and even that of the Riverlands, and outnumbered by the Knights of the Reach. However the Knights of the Vale are the only group that can well and truly claim themselves to be better that the Northerners in that regard. Their actions in the Andal crusades played no small part in forcing the Legion to slowly shift their infantry combat doctrine to that of an anti-cavalry focus.

The Dornish proved to be a difficult foe during the Rebellion, when the Dornish Phalanx met the Legion Shieldwall neither side were able to gain the advantage. The Dornish favor light armor and spears allowing them to fight for longer compared to the Legionaries of Avalon. This was a distinct advantage in a protracted fight allowing them to keep the northerners at range and run around them in circles, allowing more flexible formations to be utilized compared to the rigid shield walls that the Northerners favored. However, it was somewhat circumvented by the fact that the weaponry of the average legionary was more than capable of sundering or breaking Dornish armor. Despite this they were one of the other reasons that the Legions opted for a more mobile force. Regardless of their disadvantages in a direct confrontation, the flexible Dornish Phalanxes were known to match their enemies blow for blow the Legions were no exception.

 ** _Northern Knights_**

 _"Barbarians and Savages playing at Knights," -_ Lord Mace Tyrell

 _"Men of character, they've most certainly earned the right to call themselves Knights," -_ Lord Yohn Royce on the Knightly orders of Avalon and the North

 _"Only the wolves are howling in the night." -_ attributed to a Reachmen soldier the night before the Battle of the Trident

Not all knights that came with Rhaena Targaryen chose to serve under House Aurion. After the Order of the Dragonguard was formed some knights chose to pledge allegiance to the Lord's of Winterfell. They formed their own Knightly Order, the Order of the White Wolf. Another order to form or reform in this case was the Order of the Green Hand,The Knights of House Manderly still claim membership of this order, this claim was bolstered by the fact that surviving Order Knights from the Field of Fire fled to White Harbour. Unlike their cousins in Avalon who play a more army-oriented role, The Order of the Green Hand and the Newly formed White-Wolf often patrol the Lands of House Stark as well as act as the Vanguard for armies of their respective liege-lords.

They were formally acknowledged as Knightly Orders in the Aftermath of Robert's Rebellion as both an acknowledgment of their skills and as part of a strategy to truly integrate the North with the rest of the Kingdoms

The Knights of the newly founded order have diligently served House Stark since their founding. After their founding it was said that when they swore their oath under a Heart Tree they were approached by a Child of the Forest. It is not known what had transpired or if it was true to begin with. Nonetheless, since it's founding the Order had found and tamed Direwolves to fight alongside them in battle. The Order's numbers have often been bolstered by the more chivalrous hedge knights who joined seeking camaraderie and a sense of belonging. Often dismissed by others due their stronger ties to the Old gods rather than the Seven, they were often considered by others as Savages posing as knights while others such as the Knights of the Vale consider them worthy peers due to how they carried themselves both on the field and off of it. Regardless, both the Green-hand and White-Wolf Knights are force to be reckoned with even the bravest of warriors give pause to the sight of wolves and knights charging at them.

* * *

A brief excerpt on Northern Economics

 _"Highly self sufficient, they rarely if ever import from us, while we import from them, I have yet to place little birds in their cities because they always seem to find and eliminate them. Or in some cases subvert them..."_ \- Lord Varys reporting to the Small council

 _"For some reason, the Iron bank does not consider the Northern Realms as part of the Iron Throne, and most likely hope that they would do something about our current situation. "_ -Lord Baelish, explaining to the Small council on why the Iron Bank informed both House Stark and Aurion of the financial situation.

While coinage is commonly used in the North to acquire goods, it was mostly used the major towns. People in cities such as New Valyria, Dragon's Harbour, Barrowton, and Ironhold often used coin to procure goods in markets. In outlying areas however, barter or trade system was much more common, the road system made it easier for commoners to travel to and from major settlements most of the smallfolk found it easier to acquire goods from their neighbors or nearby villages. In some cases smallfolk from the villages would travel to other villages to barter for goods rather than travel to the cities and towns.

The North is no different, Wintertown, White Harbour and the new settlement on Skagos being the major settlements where coinage was used, the nobles often used barter amongst themselves. With the south essentially being guarded by Avalon, House Stark and their vassals had to worry more about the occasional wildling raid rather than ironborn or pirates, as such they were able to put resources into infrastructural development including the expanding and maintaining of a road system.

An addition source of income was the sailor quarters of the Northern cities. While most visitors in Avalon were prohibited for entering the entire grounds of the city the Sailor's quarter and market districts were open to visitors. The Sailor's quarter was composed of inns, taverns and brothels that catered to travelers. The Market districts in the cities were fairly self explanatory, Smallfolk and craftsmen from all over the North sold market goods in these districts. From food, tools, clothing, trinkets and in rare cases exotic goods such as silk or glass items.

By modern time, it was not strange to find all types of gold coins from the Free cities as there were often travelers from the east that came to visit the cities of the North. The only other reason for the use of coin was to pay 'tribute' or taxes to the iron throne. Avalon has done so only to avoid needless conflict with the south as they would prefer to focus on expanding infrastructure at home than fighting a war because the throne wanted what amounted to pocket change from them. The reason for the low taxation was a combination of both King Robert lowering their taxes as well as the assumption that despite it's military might the North was largely poor in terms of finances.

In terms of supplies, both kingdoms can comfortably feed their people during Winter and have in rare cases exported food to Essos. The Northern realms were never wealthy in the same sense as the nobles of the South, In terms of outright currency most kingdoms bar the Iron Isles can claim to be more "Wealthy" than the Northern Kingdoms. But the Northern kingdoms wealth lay in raw resources, unlike the other kingdoms, the North was largely undeveloped until House Aurion settled in the North. It was only relatively recently that the Northerners could start exploiting said resources compared to the thousands of years House Lannister had been mining the Rock or how the Nobles of the Reach produce large amounts of crops. Where the knights of the South are spending large amounts of gold to procure plate-armor their Northern counterparts find themselves having much easier access to said armor without needing to spend as much.

As mentioned before there were brief periods where Northern weapons and plate armor found its way South to be sold, further padding the coffers of both Northern Kingdoms, but aside from those goods the Northerners traded luxury goods in the South. One of Avalon's major exports was tree syrup, a form of sugar derived from tree sap. The many varieties of Ale and Mead from the Lands of House Stark often found their way down south and became a popular alcoholic spirits amongst the smallfolk due to its taste and cheap price. Another item that provides profit is the high quality leather that the north Exports. Most of the leather comes from the Auroch herds that dot the North, the best comes from House Bolton in the North.

* * *

An excerpt on Veteran soldiers.

 _"You won't find many of them around now but some these soldiers have been around since the War of the Ninepenny kings. Instead of living a peaceful life after completing their service they chose the re-enlist into my father's command. I don't think I could find better soldiers than them I doubt our casualties would have been so low were they not present. So I would be a bit more careful with what you say Ser Jaime. After all, they are old m_ _en in a profession were most men die young."_ \- Lady Elaena Aurion to Ser Jaime Lannister after he disparages them as old men long past their prime.

 _"They grew old for a reason and I would not be one to offend them." -_ Lord William Aurion on Veteran Legionaries

Due to it's stronger sense of militarism Avalon has many commoners who choose the life of a soldier. A rare few of these veterans have been around since the time of the Ninepenny kings serving under Daemon Aurion. One such example is Axell Falker who served in fifth Legion, A veteran soldier he returned to service at the request of Daemon's son William, and still serves as one of his senior officers. In modern times only a few veterans from that time such as Falker chose to return to service under House Aurion with most staying in retirement or even joining the militia as captains.

During the war of the Ninepenny kings the Eleventh Legion of Avalon was decimated during the battle on the Stepstones near the end of the war. Aelyx Aurion had decided to dissolve the legion, its banners were stowed away, those who remained were merged with the other legions and it's name recorded for posterity. A replacement Legion would not be formed for a long time until after an Ironborn raid on Stony shore almost twenty years later.

Many of the surviving Militia from those battles had chosen to leave Stony Shore, these were the men who had repelled the raiders and whom William Aurion fought beside at a young age. Many of these men would go on to join the newly forming Thirteenth legion, this legion was stationed at Moat Cailin and it's command was handed over to William when he assumed the lordship of Moat Cailin at the age of fifteen.

These men would fight beside him during both Robert's rebellion as well as the Ironborn rebellion. They fought at the battles at Summerhall, distinguishing themselves much like how the Dauntless had distinguished themselves. The Thirteenth formed the rear guard during the Battle at Ashford and were in the thick of the fighting during the Battle of the Bells. From there they were reinforced and marched into the Reach and besieged several castles under the Aurion siblings, they were then marched to a crossing at the River Mander, where judicious use of terrain allowed them to hold off a force that was more than thrice their number.

The riders and knights of the Thirteenth were the core of the force that accompanied William Aurion to the Trident. After the battle and due to injuries leaving Lord Aurion incapacitated and despite being exhausted they had ridden with Ser Arthur Dayne to King's Landing only to find the city being sacked by Lannister forces. Acting quickly, Arthur ordered them to storm the city and subdue the Lannister force sacking it. by the time they had subdued most of them it had too late, the damage was done and what remained of the royal family had murdered on the orders of Tywin Lannister.

After the rebellion they would not face another major conflict til almost five years later when the Iron Island's rebelled. The thirteenth was once again the core force under William Aurion's command. For the first time in history the Iron Islands had been invaded by the Northerners. Under Lord Aurion they would attack several of the Islands, the castles that resisted were put to the torch with the defenders who were still trapped in them. During the attack on the Pyke the the tenth and thirteenth legions were the first to land with Robert Baratheon, Jaime Lannister, Elaena Aurion and Eddard Stark following suit. With both forces attacking most of the defenders were driven back into the castle. After the Greyjoy Rebellion had ended most of the mustered legions were discharged and placed on reserve with the exception of Several among them the Thirteenth.

In the aftermath of these conflicts the Thirteenth became Avalon's most famous (or infamous when it came to certain nobles) military force. The Thirteenth Legion is along side the First, Ninth and Tenth are the only active legions in Avalon, with the others placed under reserve. While somewhat forgotten by the South in the past ten years the active legions are constantly training and patrolling the lands, hunting bandits and pirates alongside the Militia. Ready to fight the moment their sworn lords call them to arms.

A brief entry on Legion Heraldry

 _"Whenever the Silver Blue banners of Avalon and the Grey White Banners of the North came down south, the the realm bled."_ \- Maester Yandel, the first line of _The Military Histories of Westeros_ in the chapter covering the Dance of Dragons

Though under the banner of House Aurion, some of the legions identify themselves with different banners. When House Aurion first landed they brought eight legions with them. Their heraldry was largely similar a silver dragon on blue banner along with the Valyrian symbol for each number with the shape of the dragon looking different on each banner. When new legions were formed a divergence in heraldry formed. After the fleet was rebuilt, new legions had to be formed to act as additional infantry for the ships. These legions were dedicated to naval warfare and served as soldiers and sailors for the Avalon Navy. The symbol of their banners was the trident. It was homage the Meraxes, Valyrian God of the sea. Another example of heraldry divergence was the Thirteenth legion, the banner was a darker shade of blue and instead of Dragons the banner bore silver combatant Mabari on midnight blue.

* * *

Another Excerpt on Horses

" _Not only do they have their own breed of hounds, they breed their own horses and the horses are as stubborn as they are!"_ -Lyanna Stark to her brother's after she returned from a visit to her betrothed's home

" _What in the Seven Hells…"_ – Jon Arryn, Upon finding injured Aurion warhorses the aftermath of the battle at the Trident still standing despite their injuries

 _"Nothing makes you shit yourself more than the sight of Northern Cavalry charging at you," -_ Unknown knight of the Reach reflecting on the Rebellion

While the majority of Nobles in Avalon are reliant on House Ryswell for horses, House Aurion favored a small degree of self-suffiency. As a result they devoted some resources to the breeding of their own horses, they never made it a priority until Baelon Aurion, son of Rhaenyra chose to prioritize animal husbandry. Having brought many horses with them from their exodus, Horse breeding was not a lofty ambition it was an achievable goal, though many of their original horses died out from exposure to the cold temperatures of the north. The few that did survive were able to breed with the hardier steeds of the North. The more common color of their coats at the time were either black or dark grey. Baelon was able to raise a large herd of horses mostly Coursers. It is said that Baelon Aurion had used blood magic in an attempt to make a stronger breed of war horse like how his ancestors had supposedly done as well with the Mabari. Like them, there was no record that indicated the veracity of this claim. What is certain was that Baelon did endeavor to breed better horses and succeeded.

While not as large as destriers found in the south, these horses were still bigger than the coursers that were often found in the North. Due to who bred them they were originally referred to as Aurion Charger's by both the subjects of Avalon as well as their Northern neighbors. When ridden by knights these horses were often equipped with light plate or chainmail for extra protection and were surprisingly fast despite this and were known to move ever faster without it. Riders of the Legion's directly under House Aurion were known to ride these steeds without giving them armor. At the battle of the Trident a number of knights and riders directly under House Aurion fell in battle. In the aftermath most of the war horses the knights were riding had survived, it was reported that the horses were injured yet standing as if they we unaffected. Closer inspection of the horses revealed dents and rends in the armor of the warhorses as well as arrows and cuts on their bodies, yet they still stood as if completely unaffected by their own injuries. Seeing this resulted in coining a new name for the Aurion Chargers coined by Jon Arryn, Ironbred Horses. they were often referred to as such due to their distinctive darker coats and their ability to withstand significant punishment.

Similar observations were noted during the Ironborn Rebellion. This resulted in numerous inquiries by the crown and the other great houses. Some of these inquiries were offers to purchase Ironbred horses, or attempts to seize them for themselves. All of them were rebuffed not even the friendship between the King and the ruling members of the House was enough for them to consider handing over their own horses to the South. There were several attempts to poach said horses, said poachers were caught, promptly executed or left to die in the swamps of the Neck. Whatever methods used to breed horses have been kept a secret from the rest of Westeros and all attempts to procure them had been met with failure.

In truth, breeding the horses was easy but training such horses was both time consuming and extremely difficult. Despite this, House Aurion has given these impressive steeds away, but only to close friends, loyal subjects and allies of their house. It is known that House Dayne of Stony shore were given several for studs as well as briefly provided with Trainers, improving the quality of the Horses House Dayne had at it's disposal. Veteran riders of the Legion's directly under House Aurion were occasionally given Ironbred horses after their first steeds had perished, if said riders had finished the entirety of their service they were often being allowed to keep their ownership of said horses after their service had ended.

Travelling Fast

 _"We rode to the Trident, He drove us like a man possessed..." -_ Lady Alysanne Tallhart on William Aurion's Ride to the Trident

 _"How did they do it? It would take a month to get from Riverrun to Stoney Sept yet Eddard Stark and Elaena Aurion managed to move their troops there in half that time..."_ \- Ser Oswell Whent during a Royal war council.

While the secrets of Ravenry were cracked by the scholars long ago, the Northern realms devised alternative channels of communication. The lynch-pin of this was the road systems. In the North a number of camps were established to house Horses along the roads. The messengers and couriers would travel to these camps switching horses as they went along allowing them cover well over thirty miles a day. This system provided an additional method of communication as not all Nobles had access to ravens.

Eddard Stark used this system as a basis for rapid deployment and transport during Robert's Rebellion allowing him to cover a months worth of travel in half the time, This allowed him and Elaena Aurion to arrive at Stoney Sept to reinforce Robert Baratheon during the Battle of the Bells. William Aurion had used a similar method on a much larger scale during his ride to the Trident allowing him to cut a three week long journey down to a week and a half by moving horses and captured horses to various camps on they way there ahead of time.

* * *

The effect of Refugees on the North

During the Dance of Dragons, many smallfolk fled the south. With most if not all of the southern kingdoms involved in the dance, most of the smallfolk chose to flee north. the Ruling houses of the two northern kingdoms would accept these people into their lands. When the civil war had ended some chose to return home, but most chose to stay in the North. While the land itself was somewhat cold and harsh the ruling houses of the North provided stability. The most the smallfolk had to fear was the occasional pirate raid and wild animals compared to the many roving bands of Broken men in the South, while they would be eliminated by the Southern lords returning from war most were not willing to risk it. This also occurred during the Blackfyre rebellions when a number of smallfolk conscripts who supported their lords for Daemon Blackfyre's claim fled North with their families. Another example of this occurring was after the defiance of Duskendale when many of the smallfolk in the crownlands fled from King Aerys Targaryen's descent into madness.

These sudden growths in population were both a curse in the short term and a boon in the long term. The influx of refugees put a significant strain on Winter supplies and for the first time in a long time food was somewhat scarce in the North and the original campsites for the refugees were not enough to protect them from the cold. Adding to that fact was that most of the refugees were worshippers of the Faith of the Seven, a large number had converted to worship of the old gods and began following the practices of the Northerners whereas the rest continued their worship of the Seven via the newly forming clergy in Avalon. The goods news was that the additional smallfolk provided additional manpower in the North, using supplies and coin as payment the labor forces for a number of infrastructural projects was increased resulting in the completion of a number of projects that would have taken longer to complete. Another boon was that thanks to improved living conditions in Avalon and the North many of them would survive the winters and cause a population boom in the Northern Realms years later.

* * *

The Mystery of the Child Prodigy in the Citadel

About three years before the Rebellion, the people of Oldtown were talking about the genius acolyte of the Citadel. Surprisingly he had first made a link of Black Iron, followed by two links of Valyrian Steel, and a link of silver. He promptly made two links of Yellow-gold. In the span of a year he had made more varying from bronze to Iron to additonal links in Valyrian Steel. His instructors hailed him as a genius just a little over a year during his time he had managed to complete twelve links.

Some were suspicious, where did he come from? He possessed an expertise that was not commonly associated with acolytes of the Citadel, In terms of appearance he could have been described as a Valyrian were it not for his Coal black hair. Many assumed he either a child from Dragonstone or an unacknowledged bastard of House Targaryen. The suspicion was abated when he claimed his name was Jaehaerys Snow, claiming to be an unacknowledged bastard of minor house in Avalon. Regardless Acolyte Jaehaerys was slated to become the youngest to achieve the title of Maester and was known as a wonder child due to his age.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck, a fire broke out in the chamber where the young acolyte was once more delving into the higher mysteries. When the fire was put out they could not find a trace of him only the glass candle which was ablaze...

* * *

The Sacred Five Noble Houses of Valyria

 _"No noble dare oppress the commoners of Tyria, lest Aurion's wrath come down on them like the fury of an avenging god."-_ a roughly translated Extract from the _Histories of the Dragonlords of the Valyrian Freehold_ the rest of the passages on House Aurion were too damaged to be translated. Translated by Archmaester Marwyn

While the leadership of the Freehold was often contested by the two-score Dragonlord houses of Valyria, there were a few who were considered above the others, the five founding houses. While originally they were not necessarily "houses" in the traditional sense they had the influence and resources to help Lady Valyria found the freehold. The Five were: Valtheos, Araelor, Taellarys ,Taennaris and Aurion. Lady Valyria had convinced both Lord and Valtheos and Araelor to join her cause, and brought the other houses to heel either by convincing them or putting them to the sword. At the time many of Lady Valyria's allies had tried to convince her to attack Tyria.

The main reason for this suggestion was that despite the land itself being relatively harsher living environment and filled with a large number of natural predators it was still resource rich territory and had arable land. Lord Taennaris had removed such thoughts when he reminded the other lords that the Aurions of Tyria had beaten back the Ghiscari Empire who had brought the dreaded Lockstep Legions against them. He pointed out that even now they would have lost had they fought the empire. There were many stories about the rulers of Tyria, that they counted finest warriors of the Peninsula in their ranks, of the dreaded hounds that live in their territory and how they commanded loyalty and absolute obedience from the beasts, how they could wield magic as easily as wielded weapons. If anything, learning more about the rulers of Tyria had convinced Lady Valyria that they should be made allies and that fighting them would have been detrimental to her ambitions.

When Lady Aurion was planning and expedition into the Fourteen Flames when Lady Valyria had arrived to try and convince the Tyrian's to join her cause. Valaena Aurion was the last of the Five to be convinced and this was shortly after She and Lady Valyria had found Dragon eggs in the Fourteen Flames.

As one of the 'Five' House Aurion faced less scrutiny from their detractors compared to the other houses. Privately among the five they were held in high regard for aiding Lady Valyria in finding the dragon eggs and in front of their other peers they were praised for ensuring the might of the Freehold through the formations of the Legions. such was their prestige that their 'eccentricities' were usually ignored. Several Dragonlord houses had rose to prominence at their behest, House Belaerys is one such example. In rare cases they have shown that they could tear those houses down if they so desired, and it was known that if the Lord or Lady Aurion had desired a Dragonlord house stripped of their titles the other Four would acquiesce to their demands.

* * *

 **It occurred to me after I had written the bit on Northern Knights that there was a Knightly order not to dissimilar in terms of aesthetic and style in Warhammer Fantasy, by then I had already written it and saw no point in changing it.**

 **I concede that one part about travel might not be realistic, but I kinda gave up after seeing confusing time scales while watching Game of Thrones again (looking at when Jon went to Dragonstone, back to the wall and how Daenerys cam to save him) This was partially inspired by the Roman courier system or Cursus Publicus on a much larger scale.**

 **The Valyrian Pantheon has very little written on it, for example Balerion, Vhagar and Meraxes were the names of three Valyrian Gods. What they represent is unknown so i chose to fill in the blanks. I used the Greek pantheon as point of reference to make this. On a related note in this AU, Balerion is known to the Ironborn but he is simply referred to as the Storm God.**

 **I should have said this a long time ago but the number of soldiers in a legion vary, they can be higher or lower, likewise the number 60,000 is more of an average rather than a specific in the sense that when they 'reactivate' a legion they may not necessarily get all of the soldiers immediately, they can range from 3000 to 5000 when reformed. Some legions would be considered 'over-strength' legions, like the ninth and tenth which act as a marine force for the navy which means they can range from 5000 - 7000 at any given time, this may be overly detailed but i'm putting it in anyways.**

 **Now admittedly I won't be updating anytime soon, but I will be revising all of my entries.**


	13. Announcement

**Announcement**

Hello all, To begin with I apologize if you were expecting another chapter, this isn't it.

It occurred to me that when I tell you guys to google certain terms for images, it may not be accurate months later, to correct this I compiled some images into an album on Imgur. I originally planned on posting a link via Profile, but since it doesn't to be working...

/a/WB88QYD

I gave up on trying to put the link on my profile, when on the imgur site add the above to the URL and hopefully you'll get access to the album.

Never actually used Imgur til now so hopefully that Link works as the Album is set to hidden and only accessable via link.

EDIT: As of 01/01/2019 i made the Album Public, look for Tavarus in Imgur to find it.

EDIT: January 20th, As mentioned before never used Imgur before so i place the URL below

T.a.v.a.r.u.s. I.m.g.u.r .com

Document is finicky, remove the dots from Tavarus and Imgur

This announcement will stay up.

-Tavar


	14. Chapter 13

**Yeah no, to those who follow this I cannot apologize enough, other than me hitting a strong case of Writers block where I kept re-writing this entry (this is the fifth revision)**

 **Right now I'm trying to figure out if I should do a traditional narrative or if I should do/continue with a sort-of recorded history for the events of the WotFK/Game of thrones.**

 **Will (eventually) edit Chapter 1 to make it consistent with this entry**

 **In a somewhat related note to this entry, Lyanna Stark often has to knock some sense into her husband, literally in some case. There were moments during the Ironborn rebellion where she was forcing him to tone it down .**

* * *

 **Women in the North**

 _"I saw many things in the north, I also learned that one should never make unwanted advances on a Northern Woman, Their liege lords won't bat an eye if they draw a knife to castrate you be you commoner or highborn." -_ Oberyn Martell to his brother after his visit to the North after witnessing exactly that.

Westeros is a heavily patriarchal society. The members of House Aurion had always cared very little for gender as they've have had a few examples in their personal history to show that women could be just as capable of leading their house as men. Due to the success of said practices and the legacy of Rhaenyra Aurion, this attitude bled over to their vassals and subjects as the years went on. As long as one is proficient, gender became irrelevant. This attitude also spread to the lands of House Stark.

This manifested among the nobles in the form of succession, with eldest child of being heir regardless of gender. This did cause brief confusion in the succession of House Stark in the aftermath of the Rebellion. As Brandon Stark had opted to relinquish his title and the one next in line, his sister Lyanna was married to William Aurion. While not necessarily rocky, the transition did bring about brief confusion.

There were time where it could be said that women ruled the noble houses, this was especially true in Avalon as the Current head of the Ruling house was Elaena Aurion and it was often stated that her brother's wife held just as much authority in Moat Cailin as he did.

Women could be seen in all sorts of professions in Avalon and the North. Unfortunately, while warrior women were not frowned upon (as many join the Legion Auxilia), there was still stigma for women who join the core legionaries in the form of higher expectations. Gender was considered irrelevant so citing you were a woman didn't matter to the male legionaries, but they were expected to fight as good as they did and stand their ground with their fellow legionaries.

* * *

 **The Iron Island Interregnum**

" _Clearly I have done too much talking and not enough damage…"_ \- attributed to William Aurion during the Ironborn Rebellion, reported to have said this when offers to surrender have been denied

" _Monster…"_ – Garlan Tyrell upon the seeing impaled corpses of Ironborn being set up by the Avaloni at the front of Castle Pyke

" _Ugh, my sister is playing her damn games again."_ – Attributed to William Aurion talking to his wife and Lord Eddard Stark in the aftermath of the Ironborn Rebellion after Avalon was granted ownership and fealty of Harlaw

By the end of the Greyjoy Rebellion House Greyjoy had been defeated. Due to their reaving the nobles of the other kingdoms were screaming for blood.

At the time House Greyjoy was stripped of it's lord-paramountcy and ownership was given to Lord Tywin Lannister. Many were baffled by the idea that the Old lion would be granted such lands, that King Robert would surrender something to the Lion's of the Rock or that the Northerners who played no small part in supressing the Rebellion were silent.

More baffling was that Lady Elaena Aurion and Lord Eddard Stark did not oppose the action but rather Lady Elaena supported it on the condition that Harlaw be surrendered to the North. Not particularly caring at the time no one batted an eye to her request for ownership of the island.

Lord Tywin benefited greatly for but a few months as he was able to use the Ironborn Shipwrights to rebuild the Lannister Fleet and improve it. Unfortunately, due to the harsh rulership of his vassals. The Ironborn began revolts four months after the Lannister's occupied the Islands. At first they were negligible, small skirmishes that were easy to put down. But as the years went on the revolts become more frequent and the Lannisters had gotten harsher in their attempts a supressing them House Lannister had started bleeding all sorts of resources, from manpower, weapons, to coin.

In the meantime Lady Aurion had left the administration of Harlaw to her brother William. Due to the fact that most of the Houses had surrendered William had only produced several edicts for Harlaw. He set all thralls free and let them relocate from Harlaw if they so wished. Most assumed he would leave it at that, but he had then compensated the owners for the loss of thralls with coin while forbidding the practice at the same time. It was suspected that he provided monetary compensation placate the thrall owners, regardless of his motives it worked as most thrall owners did not rise in revolt or sow dissension against their new rulers.

Why the inhabitants of Harlaw were so compliant to their new 'Greenlander' lord was a mystery to most much to the confusion and ire of Lord Tywin Lannister, but to those who were aware of Ironborn Culture had come up with several theories. When William Aurion had attacked Harlaw in during the Rebellion he had already razed Blacktyde and captured Orkmont. It was only at Harlaw that he faced any stiff resistance. It got to the point that he had to personally take to the field for the rest of the Campaign. When he reached Ten Towers he had bloodied most of Harlaw it was at that point that it's defenders had chosen to surrender.

As far as the inhabitants were concerned William Aurion had paid the Iron price for Harlaw so when his sister left him in command the nobles and smallfolk of Harlaw they were more willing to comply. It did not hurt that William had chosen to invigorate the infrastructure of Harlaw. He started several projects to build larger docks, roads from Villages to castles and convinced the local sailors to join up with the Avalon's Western Fleet. The result was that he improved the lives of the Ironborn at Harlaw compared to how Tywin Lannister had oppressed the Ironborn of the other Islands. This stark contrast in living conditions on the isles further fueled the revolt's. Thanks to the efforts of House Aurion, Harlaw became a new hub of commerce and trade. With Harlaw fleet integrated into the Avaloni fleet and patrolling the waters, Traders were emboldened to create new shipping routes increasing commerce in places like Seaguard and by extension Lannisport and Fairmarket. Unfortunately places such as Lannisport and Oldtown did not fully benefit from this as ships sailing from the North to the South still faced raiders as revolting Ironborn had taken to the sea. That problem would be resolved somewhat years later.

Eventually Lord Tywin had convinced King Robert to give back ownership of the Isles to House Greyjoy. This had mixed results. For Tywin it was a major loss of resources that would take a few years to recoup, the Ironborn provided fierce and stubborn resistance. It also forced him to become a customer of the Iron bank, not that many knew this fact. For Balon Greyjoy he faced an unruly people. It would take time for the Ironborn to accept the Greyjoy's as their rulers again.

Overall the situation was a mess, both the Greyjoy Rebellion the southern oppression left most of the Ironborn disillusioned by Outsiders and the Old Ways, especially since Balon did not take back the Isles the old-fashioned way. Chaos would reign in the Iron Isles and would do so for years. A rare few in the South suspect that it was all part of some sort of plot by Northerners…

* * *

 **Brief entry on the Inhabitants of the Lands Beyond the Wall**

Those who live in the Lands Beyond the Wall can be divided between two different groups, the Wildlings and the Free Folk. Though some may argue that all of them are free folk, it would depend upon the definition. By the Definition of the Northern Realms the 'Freefolk' were several tribes that allied together, Notable groups include the Thenn's, giants and several tribes. Notable individuals or leaders of this Free Folk confederation by modern time included Styr of the Thenns, Karsi of Whitetree, Tormund Giantsbane of Ruddy Hall and Val of the Frostfangs.

This 'Confederation of Free Folk' has better ties with both the Night's Watch and the Northern Realms. Strong enough that Rangers can often find haven among the free folk should they ever be driven off their course of their Ranging in the Lands Beyond the Wall.

* * *

 **The Nights Watch**

 _"There is no shame in taking the Black."_ \- Northern Saying

 _"Why is the Wall so large and why is it made of Ice?" -_ Elaena Aurion to Benjen Stark upon her first visit to the Wall

The Nights Watch is an Ancient order that manned the Wall. What most forgot was the original intention of Watch's formation.

Months before his death Laenor Aurion had visited the Wall to meet the Ancient Order. Like many things, very little was recorded or possibly erased or locked away in terms of what had transpired. What is known is that years later his daughter would visit the Wall and pledge support to the Nights Watch in the form of volunteers, laborers and tools. One such notable tool was the compass, a device used for someone to orient themselves in a specific direction, it was acquired during the period when House Aurion has spent time in Yi Ti. In combination with maps, the rangers of the Night watch were able to traverse the lands beyond the wall with greater ease than before.

The Lands beyond the Wall were often used as a sort of training grounds for new recruits in the Legion. In most cases it was used to drill the concepts of forced marching and help in providing them survival training.

By modern time the Night's Watch is seen as a respectable organization, while support for it had diminished in the South it still had significant support in the North. With the Northern realms having become both prosperous and having a growing population it was not uncommon for some to take the black. While often used by the South as a dumping ground for criminals afraid of execution, While those guilty of minor crimes such as poaching or petty thievery have little to fear, those guilty of crimes such as rape or cold-blooded murder find their lives cut short in 'accidents', it is often said by members of the Watch that it is a "long way down the Wall."

* * *

 **The Bracken-Blackwood Feud**

 _"Damn Northerners" -_ a common curse from members of House Bracken

Both Houses have been at each others throats since the time of the Andal Invasion. The feud was often nothing more than a bloody stalemate. It would stay that way until House Aurion had landed. Being goaded by the actions of the Knights House Bracken harassed the Valyrian Exodus only to meet dragonfire as response. The Head of House Blackwood meet Laenor Aurion and let stay a Raventree Hall under the guest right. The Head of House Blackwood would explain the political situation in Westeros as thanks Laenor Aurion had done a service for House Blackwood, not much is known other than the fact that the Dead Weirwood Tree had somehow been restored to life.

Another boon for House Blackwood was that they were first and for a long time only trade partner of House Aurion, thanks to House Aurion's ties with House Mallister, the two Riverlord Houses would establish an alliance, permanently throwing the balance of the ancient Bracken-Blackwood feud in the favour of House Blackwood. One instance of this alliance bearing fruit was Robert's Rebellion, while Hoster Tully was showing a degree of reticence in joing the rebels, House Blackwood and Mallister did not hesitate to support House Aurion when they joined the rebellion. After the Ironborn raids in Avaloni lands, the two Riverlord Houses would establish a mutual defensive pact against the Ironborn, both River Houses had opted to honor their ancient Alliance with House Aurion as they set off to support William Aurion's assault on the Iron Isles.

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 **AN: A bit of a Retcon but i'm altering the aesthetic reference of the Legion Riders to being closer to that of Poland's Winged Hussars at least the ones who fight in melee.**

 **In the aftermath of the Ironborn Rebellion the Seven kingdoms strip the House Greyjoy of it's rule and Elaena subtly pushes the idea of handing the Iron Isles to Tywin Lannister in an attempt to weaken his influence.**


End file.
